The Chimera Children
by Clare
Summary: Twelveyearold twins Bjorn and Ursula Olsson are the products of a top secret experiment with Ursaring DNA. Unfortunately, this means they are in danger because of antihybrid laws brought in after the Mewtwo fiasco
1. Prologue

**

Prologue

**

(From the writings of Professor Richard Gregg, a leading expert in the field of Pokemon genetics)

**Date: August 30 2059**

There are few who can appreciate the wonders of nature, how every living thing - be it human, Pokemon or plant - starts life from the fusion of two minute cells. And we often ask ourselves of it might not be possible for us to replicate that process in the laboratory and, if such an attempt were made, what its outcome would be. 

And, if we could produce a viable being from such research, would it also be possible to go one step further and splice the DNA from two separate species? Or, in other words, could we create a being that was physically human but carried Pokemon DNA? That is what we aimed to find out in the research project codenamed Chimera.

Getting funds to carry out such potentially controversial work has proved far from easy, mainly because of the blanket ban on creating any new forms of Pokemon or Pokemon-like beings that was imposed nearly 60 years ago in the wake of the Mewtwo fiasco. Since this incident, which saw an entire laboratory destroyed by an enhanced version of the Legendary Mew, many have been mistrustful of all human-created Pokemon. They argue that no-one has the right to fiddle with what nature created and that any being created in this way is an abomination that has no right to be alive.

But the members of this group are not of that persuasion so I was able to persuade them to donate their genetic material which was then spliced with DNA obtained from Pokemon of various species. Any embryos which resulted were then transplanted into their genetic mothers (human or Pokemon) and observed to see how they developed.

The Pokemon used and the results obtained were as follows:

**1, Pidgeotto** - All stillborn at full term with a 100% birth defect rate, the most common problem being the presence of feathers on an otherwise humanoid body.

**2, Vulpix** - None of the embryos survived beyond the first trimester and it was clear from the ones that didn't abort until late on that they would have had more in common with their Vulpix parents.

**3, Meganium** - All survived to term but proved to look exactly like ordinary Chikorita and will have to be kept in the laboratory until we know how their human DNA has affected them; it is too early yet to say if or when they will evolve.

**4, Scyther** - All were born alive but died within weeks - they looked more-or-less human but retained the distinctive Scyther sword-arms. Their was also an unusually high percentage of Siamese twins among this group.

**5, Ursaring** - Here, only two (a male and a female) survived beyond the second trimester, but both could pass as humans, the only sign of their Pokemon ancestry being the crescent-shaped birthmarks (echoing the markings of a Teddiursa) on their foreheads.

Since only two of the Ursaring Chimeras have achieved the results we hoped for, a viable being that looks human but has some Pokemon characteristics, we will endeavour to protect them at all costs. They have already been codenamed Bjorn and Ursula and will be put up for adoption as soon as they pass all their health checks. Owing to the sensitive nature of our research, we will have to ask that any potential adopters be prepared not to reveal to these children their true origins.

--------------------------

Professor Richard Gregg sighed, turned off his computer and went over to the Nursery Observation Room. Through a one-way window (he could see into the Nursery, but no-one inside could see him) he observed the results of his work. Two small babies, a boy and a girl, lay sleeping in a single cot and, with the Pichu mobile hanging over the children's heads, the Mareep wallpaper and the sounds of a lullaby wafting out of the room, it might have been a scene in someone's home. But it wasn't - Professor Gregg already knew that, however innocent Bjorn and Ursula looked now, they were something more than human.

What did fate have in store for these little miracles? Would they be accepted by society - especially if, as Professor Gregg feared, the truth about what they were somehow got out? And would they themselves develop normally according to human definitions of the term or would their Ursaring DNA make its presence known?

By the faint glow of a nightlight, Gregg could see Ursula wriggle in her sleep and turn her head towards the window so that the crescent birth-mark on her head was clearly visable. 

"Bjorn and Ursula," the Professor murmured with a faint trace of paternal pride in his voice.


	2. Chapter One

**

Chapter One

**

"You can just take that back, Derek Holloway!"

A small crowd was gathered in the grounds of Greenview Children's Home, watching as two boys confronted each other about something one had said to offend the other. Cheers and catcalls, interspersed by shouts of: "Fight! Fight! Fight!" echoed all around.

Only Ursula Olsson hung back, leaning against a fence and trying to look as indifferent as she could. She was eleven-and-a-half years old, a slim pretty girl with hazel eyes and straight light-brown hair which she kept tucked behind her ears with the help of a red Alice band. She wore a green pinafore dress over a white polo shirt, white ankle socks and blue sandals. She tried to stay out of fights if she could help it, but it was hard for her not to get personally involved in this - one of the boys was her brother, Bjorn, and things had a habit of . . . happening where he was concerned.

Right now, Bjorn - who shared Ursula's hair and eye colouring - was staring Derek Holloway, a surly looking fourteen-year-old, in the face. "Why can't you just admit I beat you fair and square?" he demanded.

Derek just glared back. "There's no way a Dewgong could beat a Flaaffy - you cheated, Olsson!"

On the words "you cheated", a change seemed to come over Bjorn - normally not the sort of boy you'd give a second glance to, he raised his fist to Derek, ignoring the fact that the older boy was a head taller than him. Then, his fist started to crackle with electricity . . .

------------------------

Ursula grew concerned - this sort of thing had happened before and it made people look at them suspiciously. "Bjorn! No!" she yelled, breaking the resolution she had made after the last time to stay out of fights. But her words came too late and Derek was knocked sprawling by a well-placed punch on his jaw. All the children in the vicinity turned to look at Bjorn as he struggled to regain his composure.

"Did you see that?!"

"Yeah - but I don't believe it!"

"If I didn't know better, I'd swear that was a Thunderpunch!"

Angrily, Ursula strode over to her brother. "Bjorn, why did you do that?" she demanded. "Everyone treats us like freaks as it is . . ."

"Sorry, Sula," Bjorn said, using the pet name he had for Ursula. "I just couldn't stand that Holloway jerk calling me a cheat."

"Maybe, there are better ways than physical violence."

---------------------------

Everyone turned as Doreen Mather, the middle-aged matron of Greenview, approached the scene. As usual, she was wearing a navy blue dress and sensible brown shoes - and an expression which clearly said she had policy of zero tolerence when it came to fighting.

"Yes, Derek Holloway, I know it's you - I saw everything on the Closed Circuit," she said sternly as she neared the scene. "And I think it's time you realised that the reason you were beaten was because Bjorn's Dewgong is better trained than your Flaaffy - cheating had nothing to do with it."

"Sorry," Derek muttered, keeping his eyes fixed firmly on the ground to avoid looking Mrs Mather in the eye.

Mrs Mather frowned, determined to make it clear that she hadn't finished with him yet. "So I should hope - and you'll be a lot SORRIER soon. You will get five-hundred lines for this - "I will not make unfounded allegations against others". You will do them in the Common Room after supper and you'll stay until you've finished. Is that clear?"

Derek nodded sullenly and strode off. Mrs Mather turned her attention to Bjorn, who was standing with Ursula and trying his best to look nonchallent about the whole thing. "Could I see the two of you in my study," she asked, beckoning them to follow her.

At these words, a mutter rose up from the assembled children; no-one was ever sent to Mrs Mather's study unless it was really serious. And, even though the Child Welfare Authorities had forbidden such things for years, it was even rumoured that she still kept a cane on top of her filing cabinets to whack people with if they misbehaved.

---------------------------

As it turned out, Mrs Mather wanted to speak to Bjorn and Ursula on a matter she had never broached with them before - the real reason they were at Greenview. It had taken a lot of persuading to get her to take on the Chimera Children and agree to keep the truth about what they were hushed up. For the first few years, she had hoped a suitable adoptive family would come forward, but it always came down to the same thing - finding someone willing to take on twins. To further complicate matters, the Olsson children's very existence was illegal, a violation of everything natural.

Not that it mattered to Mrs Mather, who, after her only biological child was stillborn, had devoted her lfie to looking after children whose own parents were unable to do so. To her, Bjorn and Ursula were just two more charges - but there were plenty of people who might think differently and she wanted to prepare them for a hostile world as soon as possible.

Sitting at her desk with Bjorn and Ursula opposite her, she began to explain. "I called you in her on a personal matter - it concerns your parents."

Bjorn looked at her suspiciously. "What's there to tell?" he demanded. rising in his seat. "We already know our parents died in a boating accident and that's why we came here . . ."

But Mrs Mather shook her head. "No, Bjorn, they did not," she said. "In fact, Thomas and Annette Olsson never existed."

----------------------------

There followed a long and awkward silence as Bjorn and Ursula struggled to take in these words. When Mrs Olsson judged that the children had had enough time to absorb the news, she continued.

"The truth is that the two of you aren't - fully human." She studied their face to check for their reactions - both seemed completely dumbstruck by this revelations, but she decided it would be kindest on both of them to get this over with. They had been living a lie for eleven years and it was time they knew the truth no matter how painful it was. "Bjorn and Ursula, you are Chimeras, beings bred as part of a top-secret experiment; you both carry Ursaring DNA."

Ursula, who had been reaching out for a glass of water on Mrs Mather's desk, knocked it over and accidentally ruined a pile of letters. "Ursaring DNA?" she echoed. "But - how is that possible?"

"Through an extensive breeding programme - unfortunately, you and Bjorn were the only specimens to survive this long. And that's why we had to arrange so much protection for you. There are people who may not - react favourably to beings like you."

At this, Bjorn leapt to his feet and rounded on the closest person to a mother that he and Ursula had ever known. "Is that it?!" he demanded. "Are you saying we're just . . . lab Rattatas?!"

"Not at all - you're both just as valuable as any living thing. But I would advise you to keep this a secret - if word gets out . . ." Mrs Mather shuddered as she thought of what could happen to Bjorn and Ursula in that eventuality.

-----------------------

For the next year, Bjorn and Ursula continued their lives at Greenview. On their twelfth birthdays, both received new Pokemon, a Phanpy for Bjorn and a Vulpix for Ursula, both of them gifts from an anonymous donar and accompanied only by notes bearing the words "you may need us soon" [NOTE: the identity of the person responsible for Phanpy and Vulpix will become clear in due course] The same day, Bjorn captured a Yanma with the help of his Phanpy and, not long after that, Ursula's pet Eevee - which she had had since she and Bjorn were eight - evolved into an Espeon. Ursula was thrilled since Espeon had long been her favourite out of all Eevee's evolved forms. But, always, a cloud hung over the children.

It was just over a year after Derek accused Bjorn of cheating to win a Pokemon battle that it happened. Three official-looking men in grey suits came to Greenview one afternoon and asked to see Mrs Mather on "a matter of some urgency".

------------------------------

"This better be important," Mrs Mather said shortly as she rifled through a pile of papers on her desk.

The first of the men, who had a thick moustache and went by the name of Agent Howard Pitt, folded his arms and began without preliminaries. "We represent the Organisation for the Control of Illegal Beings," he told her. "And we've been informed that there are two illegally created human/Ursaring hybrids living in this establishment. Bjorn and Ursula Olsson?"

Mrs Mather bristled angrily, wondering who could have found out the truth about the Olsson children after she had kept it such a closely guarded secret for twelve years. But she knew that, without proof they were not fully human, there was nothing the OCIB could do about them - and she informed the agents as much.

"I think you'll find there are lots of ways," Agent Pitt retorted. "Like blood tests. You must present both of them at our clinic by noon tomorrow and, if our tests come back positive, we shall have no choice but to . . . terminate them."

"No! You can't do that! These are children we're talking about!"

"I think you'll find that we can. I'm truly sorry about this - but, in the eyes of the law, human/Pokemon hybrids like Bjorn and Ursula just weren't meant to be."

-------------------------

Unknown to any of the people in Mrs Mather's office, Bjorn just happened to be passing at that moment. Within moments, he located Ursula - playing computer games in the Common Room with two other girls - and pulled her to one side.

"What's going on?" she demanded, angry at being dragged away from Porygon Quest just as she was about to end Sharon Wood's reign as undefeated champion among the Greenview girls.

"Ursula - they KNOW about us!" Bjorn whispered urgently, praying that no-one would overhear them. They were in a cupboard which was officially out of bounds and was, consequently, a convenient place to hold secret meetings.

"What - do - you - mean?" Ursula asked, covering her mouth with her hand as if doing so would change the answer she instinctively knew was coming.

"Somehow, someone's gotten word that we're hybrids - and they've informed on us to that Illegal Beings lot."

For several minutes, Bjorn and Ursula stared at each other, wondering what they should do in order to avoid capture and, ultimately, destruction at the hands of the organisation set up to regulate the creation of new beings with Pokemon DNA. The OCIB made its attitude very clear - the only good chimera was a dead one and, although few members of the public approved of their methods, there was little anyone could do to stop a destruction order if a being brought to their attention was conclusively proved to have been created illegally.

----------------------------

It was Ursula who made the decision. "We'll have to run away - tonight," she told her brother, her eyes wide with a mix of excitement and fear. "And one more thing. Bring Dewgong, Phanpy and Yanma - I'll be taking Espeon and Vulpix."

"Our Pokemon?" Bjorn asked, wondering just what she was getting at.

Ursula rolled her eyes at him and explained as clearly and concisely as she could. "For one thing, we'll need their protection - we still can't use all our Ursaring powers and, even if we could, we can't draw attention to ourselves. And besides, if anyone asks, we can pretend we're on a Pokemon journey."

Bjorn nodded, seeing the logic in her plan and hoping it would keep people from asking too many questions. "Okay - and we'd better use false names as well," he said. "They'll be looking for Bjorn and Ursula Olsson - so I'll be . . ."

"John Davies," Ursula supplied, using the first name that she thought of. "And I'll be . . . Janine Davies."

And, at that moment, the children's fight to avoid capture at the hands of the OCIB began.


	3. Chapter Two

**

Chapter Two

**

Bjorn and Ursula had slipped up to the former's dormitory - which had a handy fire escape directly below it - immediately after tea and had spent what felt like hours crouching in one of the wardrobes, preparing to run away. They knew they weren't supposed to be in the dormitories until the retiring bell rang at eight o'clock, but they wanted to be ready to escape as soon as possible.

It was risky, all the same. If Mrs Mather chose that night to do a bed check, they would be in serious trouble for breaking bounds on top of having to face the OCIB at noon the following day.

Ursula looked at the Poke Balls containing Espeon and Vulpix, wondering if she would ever be able to really go on a Pokemon journey. Glancing at Bjorn, who repeatedly looked from his Poke Balls to his watch and back again, she could tell he was feeling the same way - the question of Pokemon journeys had never entered their minds before, until they decided to use it as cover while they tried to dodge the OCIB.

Presently. Bjorn turned to look at Ursula. "Quarter-to-eight," he whispered. "We'd better move."

---------------------------------

Hardly daring to breathe and painfully aware of the drumroll her heart was producing, Ursula pushed open the fire escape door and crept onto the metal balcony. But she hardly had time to breathe the warm early autumn night before a loud wailing pierced the air and caused her to instinctively clap her hands over her ears. Bjorn, joining her, groaned.

"The security alarm," he said, speaking as loud as he dared above the noise of the alarm. "I forgot - it's always armed unless we have to evacuate for some reason."

Ursula shot him an angry look. "Don't just stand there - we've got to get out of here before someone comes!"

Sure enough, just as Bjorn and Ursula reached the bottom of the fire ecape, Mrs Mather came rushing out of her private quarters to see what the commotion was.

"Bjorn and Ursula Olsson!" she yelled, placing her hands squarely on her hips. "What in Johto's name are you two doing? The bell will be going in ten minutes."

A moment of tension followed. Bjorn and Ursula knew full well that, if they did as Mrs Mather said and went back inside, they would have lost their only chance of escaping from the OCIB. And, from what he had overheard outside Mrs Mather's office, Bjorn knew the future would be bleak for both of them if they fell into the hands of such an organisation. He hated doing what he was about to do to the only mother he and Ursula had ever known, but there appeared to be no choice.

------------------------------

"Dewgong - go!" he called, throwing a Poke Ball and releasing the Dewgong he had raised from a Seel. Dewgong emerged in a flash of light and clapped his flippers.

"Degong gong gong," he called.

"Quick, Dewgong!" Bjorn told him, instinctively adopting the classic pose for a battling Pokemon trainer. "Ice Beam Attack!"

In response, Dewgong sent a beam of ice directly towards Mrs Mather - it solidified on contact, trapping every part of her except her head in a block of ice. Smiling with satisfaction that they had avoided capture for the time being, Bjorn recalled Dewgong and turned to go. Ursula, however, hung back.

"Wh - what about . . . ?" she asked uncertainly, staring at the frozen Mrs Mather.

Bjorn grabbed her by the hand. "She'll be all right - the ice'll soon thaw when the sun rises. Now, let's go!"

--------------------------------

They had been wandering the back streets of Violet City for what felt like forever, both ready to drop from exhaustion but driven onwards by an overwhelming desire to avoid those who wanted to harm them because of what they were.

Neither Bjorn nor Ursula knew who had found out they were the products of an illegal experiment which involved blending human and Ursaring DNA - nor did they know who had informed on them to the OCIB. But they did know that the best way to stay safe was to put as much distance as possible between themselves and their enemies. And, to do that, they had to get out of town by noon the next day - for that was the time Mrs Mather would be forced to hand them over to be tested for signs of Pokemon DNA.

But, even though they knew they were in danger, they could not keep moving indefinitely. Already, Ursula had developed a stitch in her side and her feet were so sore that she could feel every cobble through the soles of her sandals. Presently, in a narrow alleyway between two rundown streets, she gave in to fatigue.

"I - can't - go - on!" she gasped, sinking to her knees. "Bjorn - save - yourself!"

But Bjorn shook his head. "No, Sula," he told her. "We stick together in this. You're right though - we'd better rest or we won't be in any state to keep out of trouble."

-------------------------------

Ignoring the CONDEMNED notice placed in a prominent position, they took shelter in the entry of a disused warehouse. The battered sign outside told them it had once been used by a company called Davison Electrics, which had gone bust some time before and closed all its branches in Johto. An old newspaper revealed just how long the place had lain empty.

"13 August 2069," Ursula read aloud as she picked up the yellowing newspaper. "That's over two years ago."

"Look - never mind that," Bjorn said as he struggled to clear away a pile of litter. "We've got to decide who gets stuck doing the first shift."

"First shift?"

"On guard duty - unless you want to get us into even more trouble than we're in already." But, even as he spoke, Bjorn knew he would be the one who had to sit up and keep watch for signs of trouble - already, Ursula had slumped to the ground and her head was beginning to loll on her shoulders.

Heaving a sigh, he sat down near a Dumpster and released his Phanpy from his Poke Ball. If nothing else, having one of his Pokemon on guard with him would make it less likely that anyone could blindside him, but it was hard not to wish that all this was unnecessary. Had they still been at Greenview . . . no, he had to stop thinking of that place if they were to survive.

-------------------------

It was a clear autumn night - 2.00am according to the luminous figures on Bjorn's digital watch - and camping out would have been fun if they hadn't been on the run and were doing it somewhere other than a dark alley. As it was, every shadow seemed to be beckoning him, drawing him into its enveloping clutches. He tried everything he could think of to keep his mind off the invisible foes - humming snatches from various tunes, mentally listing all the famous Pokemon trainers he could think of - but nothing worked. Nothing seemed to be able to quell his sense of dread.

Phanpy seemed to sense that something was troubling his trainer, for he nudged him with his trunk and gave a concerned "Phanpy?".

Bjorn sighed and looked back to where Ursula was sleeping, her mind devoid of trouble for the time being. "I dunno," he said, staring down at the ground. "It's just . . . we didn't ask to be part Ursaring, did we? And now someone wants to . . ."

"Phanpyyyyyyyyyyy!"

Bjorn leapt up when he heard Phanpy give an alarm call and, without thinking of what the consequences could be, took off after the figure that was retreating down the next alley.

-----------------------

"Stop!" Bjorn shouted to the figure, a youth dressed in jeans and a black combat jacket. He was probably just a graffiti tagger, one of many which haunted a place like this, but Bjorn was so keyed up by the need to avoid danger that he was unable to take any chances.

The youth turned at the sound of the younger boy's voice. "Hey," he said in a tone that sounded like he was geniunely concerned. Bjorn, however, kept his guard up and one hand on the pocket in his jeans which held Yanma and Dewgong's Poke Balls; Phanpy was still out and had, hopefully, gone straight to Ursula. "What's a kid like you doing out at this hour?" the stranger went on. "Do your parents know where you are?"

"I - I don't have parents," Bjorn said, knowing this probably wasn't true but thinking it might save too many awkward explanations. "It's just me and my sister."

"So you're orphans, are you?"

Bjorn nodded and began to tell the youth everything he could about himself and Ursula, leaving out the most important detail and stating the false names Ursula had come up with while they were planning to run away. When he had finished speaking, the stranger nodded his head decisively.

"On a Pokemon journey, eh?" he said. "Funny thing is, so am I. I was looking to get to Goldenrod tonight - only I missed the last train. Maybe we could travel together . . . um, what did you say your name was again?"

"John Davies," Bjorn said, letting his guard down a little further now that the stranger hadn't mentioned being an OCIB agent but still not daring to reveal his true identity.

The youth shook Bjorn's hand. "Matthew Bates," he said. "Now, let's get to the train station - the early morning service starts at five."

"First things first," Bjorn told him. "We've got to get my sister and my Phanpy . . ."

------------------------------

In the pale light of the early morning, Bjorn and Ursula could see Matthew clearly. He looked maybe seventeen or eighteen with black hair tied back in a pony-tail and dark-brown eyes. On the whole, he seemed harmless enough as he sat with them in the almost deserted cafe at Violet City Station - at this hour, the only other customer was an old man in a battered brown coat who sat sipping a cup of tea by the window. But Ursula - who had barely recovered from being woken by a total stranger - was slightly suspicious; why, she had hissed at Bjorn while Matthew was briefly out of earshot, would he want to help two kids he had barely met?

"First train to Goldenrod's due at five-thirty," Matthew remarked as he studied a timetable over the early breakfast he had purchased for himself and the children. "It'll take us a couple of hours to get there and, when we do, we'll head for the Gym to meet Natasha."

"Is that the Goldenrod Gym Leader?" asked Ursula.

Matthew nodded. "Since the beginning of last year," he told her. 

From this point, Ursula began to lose the feeling of fear and uncertainty of what lay ahead for herself and Bjorn; Matthew seemed pleasent enough and it would be fun to battle a Gym Leader even if it was only to give them a reason for travelling. But she still wondered deep down how Matthew would react to them if he found out the truth.


	4. Chapter Three

**

Chapter Three

**

"Raticate - go!"

"Espeon - I choose you!"

In the arena at Goldenrod Gym, a match was about to get underway, with Natasha, the Gym Leader, facing Ursula and her Espeon. It was a scene often witnessed in Pokemon Gyms, an up-and-coming young trainer testing the mettle of her Pokemon again those belonging to the Gym Leader, but Ursula knew there was more a stake than the chance to win a badge.

She glanced to where Matthew and Bjorn were watching from the sidelines, then back to Natasha. The fifteen-year-old Gym Leader had short blonde hair and was dressed in black trousers and a red t-shirt which, judging by the volcano motif, had been bought from a souvenier shop on Cinnabar Island. Around her neck, she wore a gold Starmie-shaped pendant and, like Whitney, Eloise, Marion and all the previous Goldenrod Gym Leaders, her hobby was Normal Type Pokemon. Natasha was always ready for a battle so, when three trainers showed up, all intent on challenging her, she had called for three one-on-one fights. Matthew, helped by his Hitmonchan, had easily defeated Natasha's Persian and it was now Ursula's turn.

"If only she knew the truth . . ." Ursula thought, wishing for the umpteenth time that she and Bjorn didn't have to perform this charade. But having Gym Badges was the only way they could give credibility to their cover story about being on a Pokemon journey.

------------------------

Ursula let her mind wander a little too far and, the next thing she knew, Raticate was charging at Espeon in a Tackle Attack, his sharp teeth bared in preparation. Thinking fast, she quickly came up with what she hoped would be an effective counterstrike.

"Espeon - Double Team!" she called, watching as two exact clones of Espeon appeared in the arena. Of course, there weren't really two extra Espeon - Double Team just created the illusion that there was more than one of any Pokemon which used it and, as such, was a popular stalling tactic. Ursula hoped the apparent presence of three Espeon would confuse Raticate, making him unsure which one he should go for. While he was trying to decide, Ursula hoped she would be able to launch Espeon's next Attack.

But Natasha was prepared for such a move. "Dig, Raticate!" she ordered. And Raticate began to burrow into the Gym's floor - Pokemon League regulations required all Pokemon arenas, including those in Gyms, to maintain a dirt floor without floorboards unless the Type of Pokemon usually used dictated otherwise. The official reason was to provide a relatively soft landing for any Flying Pokemon that got knocked out, but it was handy for performing the Dig Attack as well.

"Can Espeon handle a Dig Attack?" Matthew wondered out loud.

"Sure," Bjorn told him. "Urs . . . Janine knows what she's doing." He would have to be careful, he reminded himself, not to let either of their real names slip again. If anyone realised who Bjorn and Ursula were, there was every risk that they would be turned over to the OCIB faster than they could say "Pokemon".

-----------------------

Out on the battle field, Raticate had burst out of the ground, directly in front of Espeon, knocking her sprawling. Before the purple Psychic Type Pokemon could react, Natasha quickly made her next move.

"Raticate - Hyper Fang!" she ordered.

"Espeon - Swift Attack!" Ursula countered.

Both Pokemon launched their Attacks simultaneously. Raticate charged at Espeon, his fangs bared, as she sent a barrage of stars in his direction. Slowly, Raticate, unable to dodge the stars Espeon was bombarding him with, began to falter under the pressure . . .

"Now, Espeon!" Ursula called, sensing that victory was only moments away. "Use your Psybeam!"

"Espeon!" Espeon cried as she tensed her muscles and sent a powerful beam of psychic energy towards Raticate, catching him full on the flank. Unable to withstand the onslaught, he went careering into Natasha's legs and lay still.

"Cate . . . " was all he could gasp before his eyes closed and he passed out, exhausted by the effects of Espeon's Psybeam and the effort he had expended in battling her.

-------------------------

"Raticate - return!" Natasha ordered, pointing Raticate's Poke Ball at him. As Raticate disappeared in a flash of light, Natasha reached into her pocket and produced the prize for defeating the Goldenrod Gym Leader - a Plain Badge. But, when she held it out for Ursula to take, the latter's conscience got the better of her.

"I - I can't accept this," Ursula said, closing Natasha's fingers around the Badge and shaking her head as she spoke.

"What do you mean?" Natasha asked. "You beat me, didn't you?"

Ursula nodded reluctantly. "But I'm not really on a Pokemon journey," she said, her voice barely audible. "And - and my name's not Janine Davies - it's Ursula Olsson."

An awkward silence followed, a silence which was finally broken by Natasha. "Funny - there was an Ursula Olsson reported missing from a children's home over in Violet City," she said. "It's been in all the papers; apparently, she ran away with her brother after his Dewgong Icebeamed the matron . . ."

Ursula gasped - if the press knew about herself and Bjorn, sooner or later, someone from the OCIB would track them down. If they were to survive, they would have to confide in someone and hope that person proved to be an ally.

"There's a bit more to it than that," she stated as she prepared to tell Natasha everything.

---------------------------

When Ursula had finished speaking, Natasha looked at her solemnly. "If what you say is true and you and Bjorn are part-Ursaring," she said, "it means you'll never be able to lead normal lives until the OCIB is shut down. They see human/Pokemon hybrids as - as a pollution of the gene pool."

"And that's why they want to find us," Bjorn added grimly. "But what can a bunch of kids do against an organisation like that?"

In reply, Natasha led Bjorn and Ursula - Matthew said he was going to continue his Pokemon journey alone and had been sworn to secrecy about meeting the Chimera Children - into her private quarters, a small, simply furnished apartment at the back of the Gym. In the kitchenette, she leaned against the worktop and explained what they must do in order to avoid detection. "You must stay here at all times and never, ever, go out," she told them. "And, if I'm battling in the arena, you must both keep still and quiet - it won't be easy, but you must try to stay hidden."

Both Chimera Children nodded as one; they knew hiding from the OCIB would not be easy, but they had no choice if they were to stand any hope of surviving. Had they not run away from Greenview, Mrs Mather would have had no choice but to hand them over - and they knew what would have happened to them after that . . .

--------------------------

After nearly three months confined to the rooms behind Natasha's Gym, Bjorn and Ursula began to feel the strain of living at close quarters and never seeing another human being except Natasha. Sometimes, trainers on Pokemon journeys would come to challenge Natasha - and they would be left alone in her private quarters, able to hear each battle clearly since Natasha always muted the tv if it happened to be on and wishing they could battle their own Pokemon. Although neither of them was a fully licensed trainer, both children knew that a Pokemon's battle skills would grow rusty without constant practice, practice which their Pokemon could not be given.

It was Natasha who provided the solution - they could practise after dark, when trainers were less likely to be a problem. It was better than not being able to train their Pokemon at all, Bjorn reflected as he pitted his Phanpy against Ursula's Vulpix one night in mid December, but he would have prefered to be back at Greenview. With Christmas just days away, Mrs Mather would be overseeing the festivities and she always arranged special treats for those with no living relatives. Two years earlier, there had been a fancy dress contest for Pokemon and Ursula's Eevee (now an Espeon) had won first prize with a tiny clown's outfit.  
  
This year, they were fugitives - and a report on the evening news just two days before Christmas brought the fact home all too clearly.

"There is still no trace of the missing twelve-year-olds Bjorn and Ursula Olsson, who disappeared from a Violet City children's home in September," announced the newcaster's voice as pictures of both children, taken from Greenview's records, flashed onto the screen. "The last reported sighting was a Goldenrod City Train Station, where a CCTV camera picked up this footage . . ." The scene cut to one showing the security camera film of Bjorn and Ursula leaving the station with Matthew.

"Police are keen to trace the youth seen with them and urge him to come forward so that he may be eliminated from enquiries," the newscaster went on.

Bjorn grabbed the remote and switched to his favourite music channel. He knew that, if Matthew came forward, he would have to reveal what he knew - and that could mean disaster for both of them. Bjorn shuddered as he thought of what might happen to himself and Ursula if the OCIB ever managed to trace them.

Ursula crossed to the window and looked wistfully out. In the street below, a brass band was playing carols, the jaunty sound of "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear" clearly audible even through the closed window. Someone was selling holly and Goldenrod City's Christmas lights sparkled in the early evening, a reminder for the young Chimera of more innocent times, of times before she knew her true origins and had no need to fear those who might deny her the right to life purely on the grounds that her existence was "against nature".

"Merry Christmas," she sighed, wishing fervently that she could have those days back again.


	5. Chapter Four

**

Chapter Four

**

"Ursula, I don't know how much more I can take!"

Bjorn was pacing the floor in Natasha's living room, endlessly retracing his steps as he struggled against the inevitable consequences of being confined to the same building for five months. In all the time since they arrived at Goldenrod Gym, he and Ursula had not spoken to another human being apart from Natasha - and fear of being spotted by someone who might betray them to the OCIB meant they hardly dared to so much as glance out of the window.

"It's all right for HER!" he went on, nodding towards the door that led to the arena. "At least she gets to see the trainers who challenge her. But . . ."

"I know," Ursula said as she stuffed the remains of the pizza Natasha had ordered the previous night into a bin already overflowing with fast food packaging. "If I so much as have to LOOK at another takeaway . . ."

"There's a circus in town this week," Bjorn said as he flipped through a pile of newspapers in a bid to find something to do. Lately, he and Ursula had done little except watch telvision and play seemingly endless games of cards with Natasha, the only time they left the rooms behind the Gym being late at night when they trained their Pokemon in the deserted arena. But Bjorn knew that, to train properly, they had to be in an environment which enhanced each Pokemon's abilities - his Yanma was unable to practise her Supersonic Attack for fear that the noise could alert someone.

Ursula, reading over her brother's shoulder, smiled as she read the heading "Riley's Famous Circus" in ornate lettering. "Wow!" she gasped, eyes wide with excitement. "Remember when Mrs Mather took us to see that with the other Greenview kids?"

Despite himself, Bjorn couldn't completely ignore the stab of nostalgia he felt as he recalled his and Ursula's only visit to a circus. It had been before they knew they were hybrids, an innocent time when they had no need to fear the OCIB. Nearly two years on, the situation looked very different . . .

-----------------------------

As it turned out, Natasha had also seen the ad and, feeling Bjorn and Ursula had been cooped up for long enough, purchased three ringside seats via her connections at the Johto League. Overhearing the conversation the Chimera Children were having, she casually suggested that there was no reason why the three of them shouldn't enjoy an evening out - after all, Bjorn and Ursula might be on the run from an organisation with rather dubious methods, but they were still only twelve years old. And no twelve-year-old should have to endure what they had.

"But - but how can we go?" Ursula asked as she stared at the slip of dusky pink paper with the words "Admit One" printed on it. "Our faces have been plastered everywhere and . . ."

"It's only a matter of time before the OCIB finds us," Bjorn added, wishing fervently that he knew which person had both found out what he and Ursula were and divulged that information to their enemies.

But Natasha had the solution. "You'll have to wear hooded tracksuit tops," she said. "I've got a couple I've outgrown - they're unisex, so you can both wear them. And we'll bring our Pokemon along . . . just in case there's any trouble."

Bjorn and Ursula nodded, both seeing the logic behind Natash'a reasoning. "But what about you?" Ursula asked at length. "Won't you . . . ?"

"If no-one realises who you are there's no need to worry," Natasha cut in as if reading Ursula's mind. "In any case, I'm not on the OCIB's wanted list."

A wanted list. That made it sound as though Bjorn and Ursula had committed some heinous crime. But both knew that neither of them had done anything illegal in their lives - apart from being born as a result of an experiment into a field which had been taboo in many circles for years. Since the disasterous Mewtwo project of the late 1990s, hastily drafted legislation had made it a criminal offence to create new breeds of Pokemon or Pokemon hybrids - the OCIB had been set up to ensure that no being created from such an experiment was allowed to live.

Then, someone had dared to rebel - and it was Bjorn and Ursula who would pay the price.

-------------------------------

A sense of expectation hung in the air as several hundred pairs of eyes were rivetted on the sawdust-covered circle at the centre of the ringed seats. Riley's Circus always drew a crowd where-ever it went and this performance had sold out within days so that all the available seats - which consisted of red benches - were occupied by people eagerly awaiting what the fliers which had blanketed Goldenrod City lately promised would be "the most spectacular show ever."

Sitting on either side of Natasha, Bjorn and Ursula found it hard to believe that they were fugitives on the run from the OCIB; only the grey tracksuit tops which they wore with the hoods pulled up over their hair served to remind them of the importance of avoiding detection. For all they knew, Ursula thought to herself as she checked her hood was secure, the OCIB had already tracked them down and . . .

Her thoughts were distracted when a spotlight was trained on the centre of the ring as a drumroll announced the arrival of ringmaster Danny Riley, a balding man of about fifty who wore the traditional ringmaster's costume of red tailcoat and smart black trousers. A hush descended upon the crowd as a glamorous female performer handed him a microphone and he began to introduce the first act with the words:

"Good evening, everybody!"

"Good evening!" called back a handful of spectators. Riley shook his head with exagerated disbelief.

"Is that the best you can do?" he asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. "You'll never beat the crowd from Cerulean City at this rate!" It was his way of warming up the crowd - since Riley's circus was based in Cerulean City, he had developed a routine where he would joke that the crowds there outdid every other town or city when it came to cheering.

-------------------------------

The opening act consisted of a young woman in a pink spangled leotard who directed three Ponyta in an elegant dance routine. To a soundtrack of classical music, the horse-like Pokemon cantered round each other in complex figure-of-eight patterns while their trainer directed their movements with light flicks of the whip she carried in her hands. Then, without any hesitation at all, she mounted the lead Ponyta and proceded to ride bareback round the ring as the audience "oohed!" in amazement.

"How come she doesn't get burned by her Ponyta's flames?" Ursula wondered out loud as she watched the young woman with an increasing sense of awe.

"No use asking me - Fire Pokemon aren't my speciality," Natasha replied without looking round. "But I have heard that Ponyta and Rapidash can somehow make their flames harmless while they're with those they trust."

--------------------------

Presently, the young woman and her Ponyta took their bows and left the ring to be replaced by a troupe of Pikachu and Raichu, with a solitary Pichu straggling at the end. All of them wore colourful clown's hats and one Raichu also wore a red-and-yellow tie which span round comically when he pressed the middle.

"And now, let's welcome the Electric Clowns!" called Riley as the troupe took up their positions in the ring.

A loud cheer erupted at his words. The Electric Clowns were always a big hit and were one of Riley's Circus's most famous acts. There were few in the big top who had not seen them perform on television, if not live, and everyone craned their necks in an attempt to get the best view possible . . .

"Remember them?" Ursula whispered to Bjorn. "Weren't you one of the kids pulled from the audience when they came to Violet City?"

Bjorn nodded, remembering his last encounter with the Electric Clowns when he and four other children were plucked from the audience and asked to help out with one of the troupe's stunt. This turned out to involve holding out a series of balloons for the Clowns to burst with their Thundershock Attacks - and it had taken him several weeks to live it down.

"Don't remind me!" he whispered back. "I felt such a . . ."

But, before the act could start, there was a sudden commotion at the public entrance.

Five men, all in OCIB uniforms, entered and began pushing their way through the crowd, ignoring protests of "what do you think you're doing?!" and "you're scaring my kids!". with a sinking feeling, Natasha realised what they were there for - and her fears were confirmed moments later.

----------------------------

One of the men had a megaphone out and was using it to address the audience. "Your attention please!" he announced as all eyes turned to look at him and the Electric Clowns milled about in confusion. "We have reason to believe there are illegal hybrids in the vicinity - so, if Bjorn and Ursula Olsson, both of Violet City, give themselves up immediately . . ."

Neither Natasha nor the Chimera Children stayed to hear the rest - trying to attract as little attention as possible, they left their seats and tried to make a break for the exit before they were discovered. But, just as she was only inches from escaping, Ursula saw something that made her so angry that forgot all about the need for secrecy.

One of the OCIB agents had hold of a young girl and was trying to drag her out of her seat, clearly under the impression that SHE might be Ursula Olsson. Obviously, she wasn't - but with her long medium-brown hair and hazel eyes (currently brimming with frightened tears) it was not hard to see the resemblence. And the real Ursula Olsson was only a few feet away and could see the girl fighting a losing battle. . .

Ursula could feel her rage, rage at the heavy-handed tactics the OCIB were using, building up inside her - until i exploded from her forehead as a powerful beam of energy. It struck the OCIB agent full in the chest and sent him sprawling on the ground. No-one, least of all the OCIB, needed telling that this was a Hyperbeam - and no-one who did not carry the DNA of a Pokemon capable of learning that Attack could possibly fire one.

"It's them!" shouted the agent as he staggered to his feet and pointed towards Bjorn, Ursula and Natasha - now standing dumbstruck by what Ursula had just done.

"I'm afraid you've done it now, Sula," Bjorn said grimly.


	6. Chapter Five

**

Chapter Five

**

They had been running for what seemed like hours; like hunted animals, all they were aware of was their immediate danger.

But, deep down, Bjorn and Ursula knew the enormity of what had happened back at the circus. Ursula had given them away - even if the OCIB hadn't been onto them, her ability to fire Hyperbeams would have betrayed the fact that she carried Pokemon DNA. Crouching in an alleyway between two tenament buildings, they watched anxiously as three OCIB agents scouted the area in search of the two Chimeras they had been ordered to find and bring back to their organisation's headquarters.

"What do we do now?" Bjorn asked Natasha, struggling not to raise his voice above a whisper.

"Only one thing we can do," Natasha replied, well aware of the consequences of being caught abetting illegal hybrids. At the very least, she could be called before the Johto League Disciplinary Council and have her status as Gym Leader revoked. "We'll have to leave town. My Uncle Richard lives in Pasque Village - it's a sleepy little place."

Both Bjorn and Ursula could see the sense in this - if Pasque Village was as out-of-the-way as Natasha hinted, they were less likely to be bothered by OCIB agents. The only problem was getting there since, as Ursula pointed out, al the train and bus stations were probably on alert by now.

----------------------------------

Luckily, Natasha had the solution. "There's a bus out to Pasque Village at midnight," she said. "We'll just have to stow away in the luggage compartment - not exactly first class, I know. But, with that lot . . ." She meant, of course, the OCIB " . . . around, there's no way we'll be able to buy tickets."

"That's all very well," Bjorn retorted, looking to where the OCIB agents were continuing their stakeout. "But we can't move while they're around. . ."

Unless . . . It was Ursula who made the decision. Wasting no time, she pulled out her Vulpix's Poke Ball and threw it.

"Vulpix - stop those men!" she ordered. "Use your Flamethrower Attack!"

"Vulpix!" Vulpix arched her back, her eyes glowing as she powered up ready to unleash a hot stream of fire. The effect was instantaneous as the agents, suddenly finding themselves literally in the line of fire, were forced to run for cover in the wake of Vulpix's hot flames. As they fled, their voices could be heard in the February night.

"Wait till I catch whoever set that Vulpix on us!" muttered one of them.

"You sure it has a trainer?" asked another. "For all we know, that was just a wild Vulpix defending its patch."

"Well, I for one am getting out of here - there's been no sign of those hybrid kids."

"They're gone," Bjorn said, sighing with relief as the agents vacated the scene.

"They'll be back," Natasha whispered as she beckoned Bjorn and Ursula to follow her. "Quickly, now."

-----------------------------------

The trio reached the bus terminus without incident, arriving to find the midnight bus to Pasque Village just starting to load up with passengers. The driver was loading people's bags into the cavernous space below the seating area - at this hour, there weren't many people travelling, so it didn't look as though space would be a problem. However, timing was critical; they had to get into the luggage compartment while the driver wasn't looking and before he slammed it shut.

To Bjorn and Ursula, the waiting round by the far side of the bus, seemed to go on forever. But, finally, Natasha came from where she had been standing with the legitimate passengers - on the pretext of asking when the next bus from Blackthorn City was due - to give them a quick thumbs up signal.

"The driver's helping someone - we must go now," she whispered.

-----------------------------

Ursula was the first to enter the luggage compartment. Crawling into the dark recesses where she was less likely to be spotted, she crouched down behind a large suitcase. Moments later, a boy's voice calling her name in a whisper told her that Bjorn had also succeeded.

She crawled closer to him and they gripped each other's hands in an attempt to assure themselves that, whatever happened, they would come through this together. "You OK, Sula?" Bjorn asked, staring into his sister's face which was just distinguishable in the gloomy light of their refuge.

"Sure," Ursula whispered back. "I just hope we manage to pull this off . . . Where's Natasha?"

"Here," Natasha replied as she quickly crawled into the luggage compartment. They did not have time to take stock of their situation before the compartment door was slammed shut, plunging them into darkness. All they could do now was hope that, when they finally reached Pasque Village, they would be able to get off the bus and head for Natasha's Uncle Richard's house without being spotted. There was a lot more at stake than being caught travelling without tickets.

-------------------------------

How long they endured the journey was something they never knew. By moving some of the luggage around, they managed to give themselves minimal stretching space, but the noise and vibration of the engine made getting a good night's sleep easy said than done. It was also frustrating not knowing exactly where they were - with no windows to see out of, it was impossible to judge their precise location.

Occasionally, they heard cars and all-night trucks swishing past - but they would have no way of knowing when they were in Pasque Village until the compartment was opened for unloading. When that happened, they would have only moments to get out without being spotted and contact Uncle Richard.

"I wish I knew where we were," Ursula sighed as she leaned against a large black canvas suitcase.

"Judging by the direction we're travelling and the fact it's been about an hour, we should be passing Olivine City by now," Natasha said from the corner where she crouched.

"How can you tell? All I know is that we've been here for what seems like years."

"Because I've been this way before to visit Uncle Richard. You take my word for it - we're on the Olivine City road. In fact, if I could, I'd show you the City lights - they're not as spectacular as Goldenrod's, but you can't miss seeing them."

As she spoke, Natasha wondered how she had managed to get caught up in all this and whether her life - and those of both Chimera Children - would ever be the same again.

----------------------------

Ursula had just fallen into a restless sleep when she was woken by someone hauling her up by the back of her tracksuit top.

"Aha! Stowaways!"

It was the driver, who was holding onto Ursula with one hand and shining a flashlight into the luggage compartment with the other, trying to detect who else might be in there. "You two!" he barked, spotting Bjorn and Natasha. "Get out of there!"

Reluctantly, Bjorn and Natasha crawled out into the night air - a clocktower chowed 2.15 a.m and the fact there were relatively few buildings suggested that this was Pasque Village. The driver looked at the three young stowaways with contempt; he had had his fill of kids trying to travel without tickets and he wasn't about to let these three get away with it.

"Right - I'll just show you what fare-dodging leads to . . ."

He reached into his pocket for his mobile phone, intending to use it to call the police. Bjorn and Ursula exchanged glances, fearing that, even if they weren't handed over to the OCIB right away, they soon would be . . .

---------------------------

What happened next took them all by surprise - a sudden and violent earth tremor knocked them off their feet and caused the confused passengers to stream off the bus in a panic. Forgetting Natasha and the Chimera Children for the moment, the driver went to calm everybody down.

"Nothing to worry about - this area's just prone to occasional tremors. So, if you disembark in an orderly fashion . . ."

While the driver's attention was elsewhere, Bjorn, Ursula and Natasha made their escape. As they fled, both Chimera Children realised the implications of the night's events - not only had one of them (neither was sure which) just used Earthquake, Ursula had earlier demonstrated that she could use Hyperbeam. And, if they could use those Attacks, there was every reason to believe that they potentially had the ability to use the full range of Ursaring Attacks.

Reaching a phone kiosk, they elected to call Natasha's Uncle Richard in spite of the early hour. Ursula had some loose change in her pocket along with Espeon and Vulpix's Poke Balls so she used that, dialling the number as Natasha whispered th digits in her ear.

-------------------------

"Now who could be calling at this hour?" They heard a man's voice grumbling before the phonecam activated and a dark-haired man in his late forties appeared on the screen in his dressing gown. This was evidently Uncle Richard, although his niece, with her fair hair and blue eyes, clearly didn't take after him.

"Richard Gregg?" asked Ursula, pausing as she slowly realised that the man was staring at her strangely, almost as though he knew her.

"Are you . . . Ursula?"

"Yeah," Ursula said, wondering how it was that he knew her name when she had never seen him before in her life.

"And is Bjorn with you?" was the man's next question, put as casually as possible but betraying a keen personal interest in both children.

Ursula nodded, too astonished to speak. At this point, Richard Gregg heaved a sigh of relief at the thought that his Chimera Children had reached him safely.

"Thank goodness for that - I've been hoping to see you again for years."


	7. Chapter Six

**

Chapter Six

**

"But why?" Natasha demanded. "Why didn't you tell me about Bjorn and Ursula?"

Richard Gregg frowned, grateful that he had the fact he was currently driving to use as an excuse to avoid looking at his niece, currently seated in the front passenger seat of his car. Bjorn and Ursula sat in the back as Gregg drove them to what he hoped would be a safe place, where they would never have to worry about the OCIB again. Since all his other attempts to create a human/Pokemon hybrid had ended in failure - with none still alive after five years - these two twelve-year-olds were all the more important to him.

"It's - it's kind of hard to explain," he admitted at last. "But I knew what I was doing was illegal - the OCIB once threatened me for using gene therapy on a Smoochum to counter accidental exposure to an Everstone. So I figured that, the less people outside my lab knew, the less chance there was of Bjorn and Ursula being exposed. Only . . ."

"Someone's found out already," Natasha cut in. "Uncle Richard," she added desperately, "who do you think it was that betrayed them?"

Gregg sighed. "I honestly can't tell you," he said. "Although my guess would be that it was someone with a grudge against them - a grudge strong enough to want them dead."

"Derek Holloway," Bjorn remarked from the back seat. "He got in trouble for calling me a cheat the same day we found out what we were. He could've listened outside Mrs Mather's office and . . ."

"No, Bjorn," Gregg replied, cutting the boy's litany of speculations short. "You must never say things like that without proof - and, besides, it would take more than a childhood quarrel to prompt such a betrayal."

--------------------------------------

Bjorn sighed and sat back in his seat, wondering anew who had informed on the Chimera Children if it hadn't been Derek Holloway. Could it have been Mr Braithwaite, the crotchety old gardener at Greenview? He and Bjorn had hated each other for years, ever since the Chimera Children had left Greenview's Nursery Annexe at the age of four and moved to the main children's home. And one of the first things Bjorn had done afterwards was accidentally kill off Mr Braithwaite's marrows with what he now realised to be the Toxic Attack. Since then, the old man had liked nothing better than to threaten both children, Ursula being, in his eyes, guilty by association.

"If you can't control that Eevee, I'll wring its neck!" he had told Ursula once after the Eevee that Espeon was then had escaped and been caught digging up the flowerbeds.

"Bjorn?" Ursula was looking at her brother with a concerned expression on her face.

"Sorry, Sula - I was just thinking about old Braity," Bjorn explained. "D'you think he's the one who told on us?"

"I don't know. But I've been thinking - and I'm pretty sure whoever it was came from inside Greenview. There's no way an outsider would know."

----------------------------------

Richard Gregg lived in a detached house on the outskirts of Pasque Village, a modest dwelling paid for out of the profits he had gained from his work in Pokemon genetics. He had never married, the one young woman who might have been a potential wife having left him because she felt he was spending too much time at the lab. Genetic research had been his life for as long as he could remember - at the age of barely twenty, he had published an extensive paper detailing research which suggested that the many weaknesses that Magikarp displayed, their inability to learn any Attacks except Splash, Tackle and Flail, had arisen from a spontaneous mutation. This should have given them a distinct handicap, but Gregg also argued that the fact that Gyarados retained their original power levels was a compensatory factor.

"I've been trying to produce a genetically engineered Magikarp to overcome their current limitations," he explained as they passed through a large aquarium. "So I've been blending Magikarp DNA with that of other Water Pokemon and the results have been - pretty spectacular."

"Spectacular?" Bjorn echoed, unable to see anything exceptional about the several dozen Magikarp in the tanks that lined the walls. The fish-Pokemon were gaping stupidly at the four visitors, with nothing in their appearence to suggest that they were any different from normal Magikarp. And one of the first things a Pokemon trainer learned was that this was one of the weakest species known.

"I think a battle might show you what I mean," Gregg replied as he drew one of the Magikarp into a Poke Ball. "Bjorn, do you have a strong Water Type?"

Bjorn nodded and pulled out his Dewgong's Poke Ball. It had been some time since he had battled someone other than Ursula or Natasha and a trainer's skills grew rusty without practice against a variety of opponents. Even though Gregg was going to use a Magikarp, Bjorn was ready for the challenge.

-------------------------

They assembled by the swimming pool in Gregg's garden, the two challengers taking opposite ends as they prepared to face off. Natasha volunteered to act as referee and stood with her right arm raised in a "prepare to battle" signal.

"Bjorn! Uncle Richard! Begin!" she called, letting her arm drop abruptly.

Seconds later, two Poke Balls span through the air, bursting open as they hit the water and releasing their respective contents. Before the battle began, Bjorn crouched down to whisper encouragement to his Dewgong as he swam up and down warming up for the battle ahead.

"I'm counting on you, Dewgong."

"OK!" Gregg called from the opposite end. "Magikarp - Bubble Beam!"

In response, the Magikarp Gregg was using sent a volley of bubbles streaming towards Dewgong who cried out in pain as they burst against his skin. Bjorn thought fast and quickly came up with what he hoped would be an effective counterstrike.

"Dewgong - Blizzard!" he ordered, watching with satisfaction as Dewgong opened his mouth and a powerful blast of snow wafted violently towards Magikarp. The smaller Pokemon struggled to stay in the water and not get blown away - seeing this, Ursula began to cheer for her brother from where she was standing watching the battle.

"You've got it now, Bjorn!" she shouted, jumping up and down in her excitement. "A quick Aurora Beam should do the trick!"

----------------------------------

But Gregg was not about to give up; aware that even a genetically engineered Magikarp was bound to have difficulties against an evolved Pokemon like Dewgong, he quickly hatched a plan to counter the Blizzard Attack.

"Magikarp - Endure!" he called. In response, Magikarp braced himself for the onslaught, exerting force against force as Dewgong swam towards him in a Take Down Attack. From that point on, no matter what Bjorn told Dewgong to do, Magikarp simply couldn't be budged. Gregg watched the two struggling Pokemon calmly, knowing victory was only moments away.

"Now, Magikarp!" he ordered, seeing that Dewgong was beginning to tire. "Lock On and use Hyperbeam!"

On hearing these words, Bjorn knew the battle was over; he had seen Ursula's Espeon - and Ursula herself - use Hyperbeam often enough to know that it was a very powerful Attack capable of knocking a Pokemon out instantly. And, when combined with Lock On, it became virtually unstoppable. All he could do was watch as Dewgong went zooming across the pool to land flat out on the concrete surrounding it.

"Dewgong is unable to battle!" Natasha called. "Magikarp is the winner!"

"I warned you, didn't I?" Gregg said as he and Bjorn recalled their Pokemon. "That particular Magikarp carries Remoraid DNA - much like you and Ursula each have the DNA of an Ursaring."

"I see," Ursula replied, joining the others. "It looks like a Magikarp but it has a Remoraid's DNA."

----------------------------

There was something that had been troubling her ever since she and Bjorn found out that the people they believed had been their parents had been invented as part of a elaborate cover story. "Mr Gregg?" she ventured, wondering how she should broach the subject she wanted so desperately to ask about.

"Please, call me Richard."

"Richard," Ursula corrected herself, "who - who were our parents? I mean, we DID have parents, right?"

Gregg frowned as he considered what to say next. The truth was that, while Bjorn and Ursula both had the same human mother, Ursula had no biological father. She had been created by blending her mother's DNA with that of a female Ursaring, a process which not only guaranteed that the child produced would be a girl but also meant a father was unnecessary. But she would be better not finding that out for a few years, he mused - finding out she was a Chimera was enough of a shock in itself.

"It's all rather complicated," he said at last. "But I can tell you that your mother's name was Suzanne Hope and she was a key member of the project which created you. But there was some trouble over what would happen to you afterwards . . ."

"Trouble?" echoed Bjorn, intrigued to be hearing about his and Ursula's biological mother for the first time in his life.

"We asked all human parents to sign papers waiving the right to custody of any children born as a result of the project," Gregg explained. "We wanted them to stay in a protected environment as long as possible, you see. But Suzanne . . . took some persuading and, after she'd tried to claim you a few times, we had your last names changed to Olsson to keep her from finding you again."

A stunned silence followed. Natasha was shocked that a mother could have her children taken away from her without her consent. However, since Bjorn and Ursula had never known Suzanne, they had never missed her - Ursula's question had been prompted more by a need to know who she was, to find a sense of self.

"What - what happened to her?" asked Bjorn at length.

"I'm afraid she never really got over," Gregg replied, shaking his head sadly. "She took an overdose when you were five; her young son - your older brother - found her. But there was nothing the paramedics could do . . ."

Bjorn and Ursula exchanged looks, each of them wondering the same thing - who was this brother they had and what had happened to him? When Ursula put this question to Gregg, he shook his head again; he had lost contact with Suzanne's son some time ago and, for all he knew, the youth might be dead by now.

"I can't tell you much except that his name is - or was - Joseph," he explained. "It's been over seven years now and I haven't had any word from him since Suzanne died . . ."

He paused and decided it might be better to change the subject. "Listen - about what we said in the car," he told Bjorn and Ursula. "I don't know who informed on you, but the OCIB won't rest until they catch you. So I want both of you to be extremely careful - don't let anyone you aren't sure of know what you are and don't go off on your own."

"But . . ." Bjorn started to object, but Gregg held up his hand for silence.

"I don't like this any more than you do," he explained. "But it's your safety I'm concerned with - the two of you are too valuable for me to take any risks."


	8. Chapter Seven

**

Chapter Seven

**

"So you've been keeping tabs on us all these years?"

This question came from Ursula as she and Bjorn stood with Gregg watching Espeon and Vulpix basking in the spring afternoon with Natasha's Persian.

Gregg nodded. "I have indeed, Ursula," he replied, placing his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels. "In fact, I was the one who sent you some new Pokemon last year . . ."

"Vulpix and Phanpy!" finished Bjorn, realising with a start just how much time had gone by since he and Ursula had had their lives turned upside down. It was the end of February - the Chimera Children had been born in mid-April, which meant they would turn thirteen within the next two months. Already, Ursula showed signs of becoming an attractive young woman and, if her physical development continued to follow the pattern typical of the human female, there was no reason why she shouldn't be capable of having children of her own.

But would she ever have that chance? Or would she, as an illegal hybrid, be condemned to spend the rest of her life in hiding, cut off from potential mates? Gregg mused on these matters as he observed the girl beside him; slim and pretty, she looked no different from Natasha, but he knew she was something beyond human . . .

-----------------------------------

Gregg chose not to voice his concerns for the Chimera Children's futures out loud. Instead, he continued the thread of conversation he had started prior to Bjorn's interuption.

"Well, anyway - I knew you two would be in for a rough time, even without the OCIB on your backs," he told them. "It's never easy to be different . . . abnormal in any way, so I sent you those Pokemon - a Vulpix and a Phanpy - in the hope they could protect you . . ."

"Protect us from what?" Bjorn asked impatiently. He and Ursula might have had five Pokemon between them, but it hadn't prevented the OCIB from driving them into hiding. So far in Pasque Village, they had been lucky - no-one seemed to have connected the earth tremors with either of them and, after so much time had passed since they ran away from Greenview, the media had all but lost interest in them. But both children knew their luck could not hold indefinitely; as long as the OCIB existed, their lives would be spent constantly watching for danger.

"Ignorance," Gregg replied grimly. "Because of . . . what you are, some people might not know whether to treat you as humans or Pokemon - ambiguity breeds fear, you see. I, of course, see you as humans who just happen to have Ursaring DNA - as will almost anyone who knows you personally. But there are those who can only see absolutes, who only WANT to see absolutes."

----------------------------------

Ursula sat by the window, lost in thought. In her hand, she clasped her mother's old lab ID, the small piece of rectangular plastic her only link with the parent she had never known. The passport-sized photo was blurry and indistinct, but Ursula could just make out a woman in her late twenties with straight collar-length brown hair. Below it, the words:

Suzanne J Hope (DOB 2.2.2033) Expiry date: Oct 2061

were printed alongside the logo for Professor Gregg's lab, an open Poke Ball with a DNA helix emerging from it.

This was the only picture Gregg had of Suzanne. Ursula had asked for it because she wanted to know what her mother looked like and had spent many hours since thinking wistfully about what her life might have been like.

What was it like to have a family like regular children? That was one of the many questions Ursula had often pondered. Until recently, she had known nothing other than life at Greenview, but like any child she longed for someone she could call a parent. Someone who could form that special bond that only a parent and child have . . .

Tears pricked at her eyes as she thought about what she had never had. But she blinked them back rapidly - she had always been strong and tried never to let herself cry. She was used to the idea of having no family by now, but her other difference set her apart of the whole of humanity except her brother.

---------------------------------------------

Presently, the door opened and Natasha walked in to find Ursula gazing at Suzanne's old ID card.

"Sorry - am I intruding?" she asked, sensing that Ursula probably wanted to be left alone for a while.

However, Ursula shifted in her seat and turned to look at Natasha, her hazel eyes dark with worry and fear for the future. "I - I was just thinking," she admitted in a flat voice barely louder than a whisper.

"Thinking? What about?" Natasha, concerned by the tone in her friend's voice, moved to join her, to offer reassurance she did not feel herself.

"Why Bjorn and I couldn't just be regular kids. If we weren't a couple of . . . FREAKS . . ." she practically spat the word out . . . "we wouldn't have the OCIB after us, for one thing . . ."

"Ursula," Natasha said firmly, "you're not a freak - neither is Bjorn. It's just narrow-minded fools who think like that."

Narrow-minded fools, Ursula thought bitterly. But it was narrow-minded fools who had decided that she and Bjorn had no right to be alive. She still didn't fully understand the reasoning behind the laws banning the creation of Pokemon hybrids, only that they stemmed from a desire never to repeat the mistakes of the Mewtwo project. But why should two children be made to pay for something which had happened many years ago?

Finally, Natasha decided it would be more tactful to change the subject. "Look - how about having a battle?" she challenged. "My Persian against one of your Pokemon."

"You're on!" Ursula replied, regaining her old spark at the thought of a Pokemon battle. "And I'll use Espeon!"

----------------------------------

Richard Gregg sat in his study, making the amendments to his report on the Chimera Children made necessary by Bjorn and Ursula's return. His computer screen showed pictures of them taken when they were less than a year old, when they still displayed their distinctive crescent-shaped birthmarks. Since these would have betrayed what they were instantly, the children had never been taken out in public as infants; the journey to Greenview had been undertaken with them in a double stroller with a blacked-out raincover.

Thanks to his close involvement in the Chimera Children's welfare, Gregg knew the marks had faded by the time both were three years old. But nothing could alter the fact that they were illegal hybrids who must be shielded from those who might harm such beings at all costs. Although, he mused, it was probably the lack of any overt clues regarding their Ursaring heritage that had made the OCIB so uptight over Bjorn and Ursula in the first place. As long as they kept quiet and didn't use their powers openly, they could easily pass as ordinary children, something which they had done for twelve years.

Through an open window, Gregg could hear Ursula and Natasha having their battle and smiled as he thought of how skilled both Chimera Children had proved as Pokemon trainers. Bjorn and his Dewgong had really given him a run for his money earlier - his genetically altered Magikarp had only won thanks to some brilliant strategising on Gregg's part. If their circumstances had been different and they weren't wanted by the OCIB, he might have recommended that they try to become Pokemon Masters.

"Too bad their talent's going to waste," he said out loud. "But, with the OCIB around, it's just too risky . . ."

He sighed and forced himself to make a start on amending the Chimera Children's files.

------------------------------------

Life was a little easier for the Chimera Children now that they were no longer confined to the private part of Goldenrod Gym. Living on Gregg's estate with its vast open spaces, they enjoyed a degree of freedom they had not had since the day the OCIB first got wind of them. They explored extensively, but were under strict instructions not to venture off Gregg's land - if someone from Pasque Village happened to see and recognise them, there was no telling what they would do. Trust no-one had become the order of the day.

But the threat of capture was enough of a deterent and Bjorn and Ursula stayed within bounds. They were accustomed by now to hiding, to having to keep a constant eye out for their would be captors, but it was hard not to long for the days when they were just a normal brother and sister and the OCIB was just an organisation they had vaguely heard of on the news.

----------------------------------

"Bjorn?"

Ursula was seated in the tyre-swing Gregg had hung from a tree, pondering the impact of recent events. Bjorn, who was in the middle of teaching his Yanma how to use Giga Drain, looked up.

"What's up, Sula?" he asked. "You've been . . . well, quiet since we found out who our mom was."

Ursula sighed. "I guess it's because we'll never get to meet her," she said at last, climbing down from the swing and going to join her brother. "But I was also wondering what it's all for. Why did Gregg create us if not to be used as - as lab specimens?"

Spontaneously, Bjorn's mind flashed back to the day he had asked Mrs Mather much the same question. They had been told at the time that being human/Ursaring hybrids didn't matter and that they had as much right to life as any living organism. But maybe, as Gregg had hinted, it was because they did not fit exactly into the categories of either Pokemon or human that the OCIB had elected to go after them. Most of the time, they just seized any Pokemon created from illegal experiments and gave the scientists involved a warning, but this time it looked as though they meant business.

As Bjorn and Ursula looked desperately into each other's eyes, they knew the answer to their purpose in life was out there - somewhere.

-----------------------------------

Gregg was putting the final touches to his update of Ursula's file. As he typed, he thought of the female Chimera and how like her mother she looked - there had been few who would not call Suzanne moderately attractive, if not stunning, and it seemed her daughter would turn out much the same.

_At the time of writing (March 2072), Ursula is twelve years and eleven months old. Physical development in human terms appears normal - note signs of breast growth - although it is too early yet to . . ._

Just as Gregg's fingers moved over the keyboard to begin typing the next word, there was a loud impatient banging on the door.

"Richard Gregg! This is the OCIB! We have a warrant to search the premises for two illegal hybrids!"


	9. Chapter Eight

**

Chapter Eight

**

Four men in black suits with the letters OCIB emblazoned on the backs in red burst into the room. All were armed with guns - and all had them pointed directly at Richard Gregg as they shouted out orders through the mouthpieces on their headsets, clearly intent on making sure that this time they got what they had come for.

"Where are the hybrids?" barked one of them, pressing the barrel of his gun against Gregg's back as he spoke.

"What do I look like, a baker?" Gregg countered, stalling for time. He glanced at his computer screen, grateful that the screen saver had popped up while the OCIB agents were pouring in; if they saw that he had files on the Chimera Children, there was no telling what they would do. With nothing except the need to capture and kill two illegal hybrids on their minds, there would be no reasoning with them - they wanted Bjorn and Ursula and they weren't going to leave until they had them.

"Don't play dumb with me, Gregg!" retorted a second OCIB agent. "Where - are - Bjorn - and - Ursula - Olsson?" He said the last six words slowly, as if he was speaking to someone who was profoundly deaf.

"I don't know what you're talking about - and I certainly don't know Bjorn and Ursula Olsson!"

Gregg's words were tinged with fear; he was all but convinced that, at any moment, Bjorn and Ursula would be found and hauled away for "disposal". He moved towards his phone, hoping he still had that line of defence at least.

"Get out - or I'll call the police!" he ordered, hoping desperately that his bluff was not too obvious to the agents, who were clearly finding his lack of co-operation increasingly frustrating.

"I don't think so!" retorted the first agent. With a look of triumph on his face, he brandished the severed phone cable. "Arrest him!" he added, speaking to the two agents who had so far remained silent. "We can clear this up at Headquarters . . ."

------------------------------------------

"This whole place is swarming with OCIB agents."

Bjorn was standing at the window of what had become the children's quarters, watching as Gregg was hauled away, thrust forcinly into the back of a van. It was obvious what they had come for - their voices were clearly audible even at this distance, each word further emphasising the Chimera Children's predicament, the danger their lives were in.

"Any sign yet?"

"No - I'll check upstairs. Those hybrid brats can't be far . . ."

"Fine - just . . . take them alive if you can."

"Alive, Agent Hope?"

Agent Hope, a young man barely out of his teens and one of the OCIB's newest recruits, fingered his gun. "Let's just say I have . . . connections with them," he said in a disturbingly casual tone of voice. "And I'd like the chance to speak with them before . . ."

-------------------------------------

Bjorn chose not to hear the rest. Slamming the window shut, he turned to Ursula and Natasha - on seeing the look on his face, both girls knew that this time they were in serious trouble. They had to escape - but how? The OCIB must have every exit covered; the Chimera Children had evaded capture for so long that bringing them to Headquarters would almost certainly lead to a fat reward for those concerned. And, when money was involved, the ruthless became even more ruthless. That was what Bjorn and Ursula were up against.

"There's only one thing for it," Natasha said with grim determination. "I'll have to smuggle you out."

"We won't stand a chance!" Ursula cried as she heard several agents tramping along the corridor. Visions of what those agents would do to herself and to Bjorn flashed through her brain. She knew they were going to be killed sooner or later - the question was how the OCIB would do it. Shooting? Lethal injection? Like a trapped animal who knows the only thing to look forward to is death, Ursula broke down.

"No!" she sobbed, banging on the door in her anguish. "Why are they doing this?! Why won't they leave us alone?!"

"Sula, they'll hear you!" Bjorn warned as he tried to calm his hysterical sister down.

But Ursula was too distraught to listen. She screamed and cried until Natasha was left with no alternative but to do what she had long hoped would not be necessary. Wasting no time, she grabbed one of her spare Poke Balls and cast it at Ursula.

---------------------------------------

There was a flash of light and Ursula felt herself shrink rapidly to near microscopic size as she entered a world no other Pokemon trainer had experienced directly - the inside of a Poke Ball. As the ball pinged shut and she was plunged into darkness, she just had time to register how remote Bjorn and Natasha sounded ("Is this what it's like for Vulpix and Espeon?" she wondered) before she entered the state of near suspended animation that Pokemon enter while inside their Balls.

Bjorn looked on as his sister was drawn into the Poke Ball, wondering how Natasha knew the plan she clearly had would work. However, he did not have time to reflect on what this meant in terms of his and Ursula's relative humanity before Natasha pointed another empty Poke Ball in his direction and pressed the button to activate it.

"I've got to do this - no time to explain," she said, her heart pounding as she thought of the risk she was about to take in order to get the Chimera Children to safety.

-----------------------------------

In the aquarium where Gregg kept his genetically engineered Magikarp, Natasha released Bjorn and Ursula from the Poke Balls. Both blinked and held their heads as they waited for the feeling of disorientation to pass - how a Pokemon endured being in its Ball for hours at a time and always emerged fresh for battle was something they would never figure out.

"What was that all about?" Bjorn demanded the second he found his voice.

"Sorry," Natasha said, smiling sheepishly. "I forgot you probably don't know about the Poke Gene . . ."

Seeing the blank looks on her friends' faces, she explained. "It's - it's kind of hard to explain," she told them. "But the Poke Gene is a gene all Pokemon have - and it basically allows their bodies to be miniaturised . . ."

"So that's how Poke Balls work," Ursula remarked, speaking partly to herself and partly to Bjorn and Natasha.

"Exactly - and, since you both have Pokemon DNA, I figured you might have the Poke Gene as well. Only, I . . . Get down!"

Natasha and the Chimera Children ducked behind some empty fishtanks as three OCIB agents burst in. Seeing the intruders and sensing that they meant harm, the nearest Magikarp - which carried Squirtle DNA - leapt out of the water and soaked the agents with a Hydro Pump Attack. It proved to be a fatal error.

-----------------------------------

As soon as the agents recovered from the initial shock, they knew these were not ordinary Magikarp, which would never have been able to use an Attack like Hydro Pump - everyone knew Magikarp were only able to learn three Attacks and that Hydro Pump was not among them. Moving as one, they tipped over the nearest tank, sending a deluge of water cascading across the floor and leaving a dozen Magikarp helpless on the wet lino.

"Magikarp karp karp!" they gasped, their eyes bulging. None of them seemed to have the slightest idea that death was only moments away, that the OCIB agents cared little for the life of anything that resulted from a genetics experiment.

"Destroy them!" one of the agents ordered without the slightest trace of emotion in his voice.

Ursula gasped and closed her eyes as she realised what was about to happen. But there was no shutting out the sounds which followed - the crack of a gunshot as one of the agents proceeded to shoot one of the Magikarp in the head at close range. Tears pricked Ursula's eyes as the sound of slaughter assaulted her ears again and again; she dared not look at what was happening, but her terrified imagination conjured up images of Magikarp thrashing about in their final desperate moments . . .

---------------------------------------

Bjorn was equally revolted, but he found himself unable to take his eyes off the macabre scene. Finally, however, even he could no longer stand remaining inactive while innocent creatures were slaughtered right in front of them. Handing Dewgong, Phanpy and Yanma's Poke Balls to Natasha, he whispered his instructions.

"You and Ursula take my Pokemon and run - I'll take care of these jerks!"

Ursula looked up with a start on hearing his words. "Bjorn, you're crazy!" she protested, realising the danger he was about to put himself in. "You - you won't stand a chance against them . . ."

"It's the only way, Bjorn told her, keeping his voice as level as he could and trying not to think of what he was about to do. "Please, don't argue - just get out of here!"

-----------------------------

Steeling himself, he stepped out from behind the tanks he and the girls had hidden behind, emerging right in front of the three OCIB agents. All had their guns out, trained on the Magikarp Bjorn and his Dewgong had battled only a few days earlier.

The agents cocked their guns and, at the same instant, something seemed to snap in Bjorn. Heedless of everything except the Magikarp on the floor, he leapt forward.

"No! Stop!" he yelled, falling to the floor as a bullet from one of the agents' guns caught him in the shoulder. The last thing he saw before blacking out was his enemies standing over him, gloating at the fallen Chimera.

"Young fool!" one said in a tone of contempt. "Is he dead?"

"No - he's still alive," another replied from where he was examining the bullet wound in Bjorn's shoulder. The bullet had penetrated straight through to the other side, but it had missed vital organs so he wasn't in too much danger. "Shall we finish him off?"

"Better not - we've still got to get the girl. Bring him to Headquarters . . ."

---------------------------------------

Fleeing the aquarium with Natasha, Ursula heard only the sound of a gun being fired, followed swiftly by a cry of pain from her brother.

"Bjorn!" she yelled, realising this could mean only one thing. But Natasha held her back as she tried to run back inside; there was every possibility that the OCIB would use Bjorn - assuming he had survived this - to get Ursula. And Natasha was not about to let another of the Chimera Children be taken by the organisation that meant to kill them.

"There's nothing we can do now," she said solemnly. "Quick - we must save ourselves . . ."


	10. Chapter Nine

**

Chapter Nine

**

Shapes.

Four blurry shapes, vaguely human in appearence were the first things Bjorn saw when he opened his eyes. As his senses cleared, the first thing he became aware of - apart from the throbbing pain in his shoulder - was that they were whispering, talking about him. He strained to catch every word, instinct telling him that, however unpleasent it was, he had to hear what was being said.

"Is he awake yet?"

" . . . think so - his eyes seem to be following . . ."

"You want us to question him?"

"Go ahead - he might know where the girl is."

-------------------------------

One of the men - who wore glasses and had a balding head - leaned closer to Bjorn, the smell of tobacco on his breath decidedly foul to the hybrid boy's sensitive nose. A heightened sense of smell was another legacy of Bjorn and Ursula's Ursaring DNA - and one of the most troublesome. Bjorn's earliest memory concerned the overwhelming odour of new plastic given off by a pedal car in the Nursery Annexe at Greenview.

He was used to it by now, but the stentch of tobacco was so overpowering that he began to cough and tried to jerk himself away. It was only then that he realised he was in something similar to a dentist's chair, his wrists and ankles restrained by leather straps.

"Hello, Bjorn," the tobacco-breath man said in a voice completely devoid of emotion.

"H - hello," Bjorn stammered back, knowing that whatever they were planning to do to him was bound to be unpleasent. He kept his eyes focussed firmly on the bare light bulb on the ceiling as the tobacco-breath man introduced himself as calmly and casually as if he was a businessman speaking to a potential client.

"My name's Kenneth Steed - I'm a Senior Agent of the OCIB," the man explained, ignoring the horrified look on Bjorn's face as he revealed his organisation's name. "And we have a few questions we'd like to ask you. First, where is your sister?"

Desperately, Bjorn told himself that, even if he knew Ursula's current whereabouts, he would not betray her. He would not condemn his own sister to the fate these agents surely had lined up for him once they had learned all they needed to know. And what would they do to Gregg or Natasha for trying to hide the Chimera Children? The thought was too terrible to contemplate and it took all Bjorn's courage for him to mumble a shaky:

"I - I don't know."

Next moment, he recoiled as Steed struck him a vicious blow round the face. "Liar!" Steed raged, towering over the captive Chimera and smug in the knowledge that, while he was restrained, Bjorn couldn't fight back with any Ursaring Attacks. Steed had three children, including a son around Bjorn's age, at home, but to his eyes there was a big difference between his fully human son and the - there was no other word for it - abomination he was interogating.

"Agent Forbes and Agent Johnson, turn him over," Steed ordered, removing a length of flexible wire from the loop on his belt. "Agent Hope, get the chair as horizontal as you can - I'm going to beat a confession out of this brat!"

--------------------------------

As she and Natasha fled for their lives through the woods bordering Pasque Village, Ursula stumbled over a trailing root. It was the last straw - weary from running non-stop for however long it had been and still reeling from the loss of her brother, she gave way to despair.

"It's no good," she sighed as Natasha hurried to help her up. "Leave me - the OCIB can do what they like with me . . ."

"Ursula, this isn't like you," Natasha protested as she tried to pull Ursula up by the arm. "You've always been so . . ."

But Ursula pulled herself away and sat silently on the ground for a few moments. When she next spoke, her normally cheerful voice sound tired and defeated, serving as clear evidence of the emotional impact the day's events had had on her.

"You're an only child, so I doubt you'd understand how strong the brother/sister bond can be," she told Natasha in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "Bjorn was . . . my whole family. We - we were rarely apart at Greenview and then, when all this happened, we came to depend on each other more and more. I - I can't go on now he's . . . he's . . ."

She broke off, unable to admit out loud what they both feared - that Bjorn was already dead or, if he was still alive, about to be killed at any moment. It was as if mentioning the possibility out loud would cause it to become an unpleasent reality.

Natasha shook her head, unable to believe that Ursula, who always seemed ready to face any challenge fate threw at her, would just give up and allow the OCIB to capture them. "Look," Natasha said at length in as firm a voice as she could muster under the circumstances, "Bjorn sacrificed himself so we could escape - d'you think he want to see you moping?"

"I - I guess not," Ursula murmured as she thought of what Bjorn might have if he had been there. He had always been a natural organiser, never happier than when there were plans to be made and instructions to give out, and would probably have . . .

No! Ursula shook her head firmly as if to banish Bjorn from her conscious thoughts - if she started dewlling on what he probably would have done, she would be doing eaxactly what Natasha had told her not to do, moping, pining for her lost brother.

-----------------------------

Noticing that the daylight was was fading fast, Ursula decided to use this as an excuse to change the subject. "I vote we set up camp for the night and decide what to do in the morning," she said. "Oh, and we'd better leave one of the Pokemon on guard - I think Phanpy would be best . . ."

Natasha agreed that this seemed a sensible idea. For such a small Pokemon, Phanpy was very strong and he should be able to see off intruders with his Rollout and Take Down Attacks. She just hoped that would be enough to keep the OCIB at bay while she and Ursula slept - neither girl wanted to face what had happened to Bjorn and nor did they want to think too much about what that might be. In any case, a new thought had suddenly struck Ursula.

"Natasha?" she ventured.

"Hmm?" Natasha replied without looking up.

"What's gonna happen about Goldenrod Gym? You haven't been back for a while."

"Good question," Natasha replied. "Actually, I'd been starting to realise there was no way I could protect you and Bjorn and continue as Gym Leader - so, a couple of nights ago, I emailed the Johto League to tender my resig . . ."

She broke off as a horrifying new thought occured to her. "Ursula!" she gasped. "What if the OCIB somehow intercepted that email? What if they traced it back to Uncle Richard's place? I didn't mention you and Bjorn by name - I just hinted at . . . Why didn't I THINK before sending it?" she cursed. "I should've known the OCIB might have set up a phone tap or something . . ."

Seeing the stricken look on Natasha's face at the thought that she might have inadvertently betrayed them, Ursula knew things were getting serious. If the OCIB were desperate enough to tap into people's phonelines and/or intercept emails that did not directly concern them, it could only mean they had resolved not to rest until they had both Chimera Children "safely" in their clutches . . .

------------------------------------

Close to collapse, Bjorn was frogmarched down a dimly lit corridor leading into the heart of the OCIB's Headquarters. Steed had spent the greater part of an hour trying to force the boy to reveal Ursula's whereabouts, but Bjorn had steadfastly refused to say anything in spite of the savage beating Steed had administered in the hope that the pain might eventually force him to talk. Right now, the lacerations on his back were starting to throb, adding to the pain from the bullet wound he had received earlier and providing Bjorn with a harsh reminder of what he was up against. Clearly, if the beating was just a prelude to what the OCIB had in store . . .

His thoughts were distracted when the guards escorting hi stopped outside a rather nondescript brown door, the entrance - Bjorn soon learned - to the windowless Holding Cell. One of th guards kept a tight hold on Bjorn to make sure he couldn't use any of his Ursaring abilities to break loose, while the other (it was Agent Hope) fumbled with a large ring of keys, trying to find the one which would unlock the room where they would hold the captive Chimera until they decided what to do with him. And, when the door finally sprang open to reveal a bare room lit by a single electric light, it was Agent Hope who seized Bjorn by the back of his shirt and hurled him forcefully into the small room.

"Get in there, hybrid!" he spat. With that, he slammed the door shut and locked it.

------------------------------------

Bjorn staggered for a few moments - the pain from his injuries made it difficult for him to walk straight - before collapsing onto a narrow metal bed. All he wanted right then was to go to sleep and remain that way forever so that the OCIB could never hurt him again - and they wouldn't be able to hurt Ursula either because there was no way Bjorn would betray her. She was his sister, the only person like him in the world, and like any brother he would sooner die himself than allow anything to happen to Ursula.

In his dazed state, Bjorn had not noticed that he had a cellmate. Richard Gregg had been sitting on a wooden chair, the only item of furniture in the room besides the bed, when Bjorn was thrust inside. Seeing the boy lying collapsed, he instinctively went over to examine him and find out the extent of his injuries.

"Bjorn!" he called, shaking him gently. "Bjorn, can you here me? It's Richard!"

Bjorn mumbled a replied, too exhausted physically and mentally to speak coherently. But it was enough for Gregg, who began his examination by asking Bjorn to take his shirt off. As Bjorn struggled with the garment, wincing in pain as he did so, Gregg immediately suspected why - and the sight of the young Chimera's back confirmed it. Welts covered his young body from the waist to the shoulders, angry red lines disfiguring the previously flawless skin and serving as a harsh reminder of what the OCIB were capable of.

"Did the OCIB do that to you?" Gregg asked, horrified at the evident brutality of the beating Bjorn had received.

Bjorn nodded, still not trusting himself to speak. He knew that he would almost certainly face further interogation, followed by death; the life of a Chimera was worthless here and the OCIB would make sure his last days were as unpleasent as possible, a testament to the contempt with which they regarded beings like him.

Sensing Bjorn's reluctance to speak of his ordeal, Gregg decided it would be best to change the subject. "What - what happened to Ursula?" he asked dreading the answer but needing to know why she hadn't been captured along with her brother.

"She escaped," Bjorn replied after gathering up the will to speak. "Natasha did too . . ." Then a thought occured to him. "That door doesn't look very strong," he observed, nodding towards the nondescript door. "And I should be able to use the Strength Attack . . ."

But Gregg shook his head solemnly. "For one thing, you're injured," he added. "And, for another . . ."

He nodded towards the security camera set high in the ceiling and recording the every move of those in the Holding Cell.


	11. Chapter Ten

**

Chapter Ten

**

Ursula was finding it hard to get to sleep as thoughts of Bjorn and what he might be going through at the hands of the OCIB echoed in her mind. She sat with her knees drawn up, staring at the full moon shining in the sky and wondering why fate had singled her out to be born as a result of an illegal experiment. Through no fault of their own, she and Bjorn had come under attack, targets for state-sponsored murder - in short, they were outlaws.

"Bjorn," she sighed under her breath as if saying his name out loud would somehow bring him back safe and well. She glanced at the sleeping Natasha, then at Phanpy as he paced up and down watching for intruders, before patting the Poke Balls in her pocket. Then, feeling an aching need for companionship, Ursula released Espeon and sat stroking the Psychic Pokemon as she rested her head in her trainers lap.

"Espeon," Ursula said, "I don't know what we're gonna do - the OCIB have . . . EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

Her shriek - which caused two Pidgey who had been roosting nearby to take flight - had been caused by someone (or something) sneaking up on her and pulling her hair. Espeon looked up quizzically and Natasha, woken from her sleep, soon saw the source of the commotion - a Misdreavus floating in mid-air.

"Misdreavus are good for nothing!" she cursed.

"I think you'll find all Pokemon are good for something."

---------------------------------

Both girls tensed at the sound of the voice - all they could tell regarding the speaker was that it was a young male, a little older than they were. Right now, neither of them could take any chances, but they were nonetheless determined to put up a fight if they were going to be captured. As Ursula took charge of Phanpy and Espeon, Natasha kept a tight hold of her Persian's Poke Ball as the Misdreavus hovered around smirking to herself.

Next moment, the speaker emerged from the trees and Ursula and Natasha sighed as one when they realised it was Matthew Bates. The youth who had helped the Chimera Children at the start of their struggle to outwit their enemies had been training his Misdreavus when she decided to go off on her own and torment other trainers. Seeing Ursula, she had found the girl's long hair too tempting to resist . . .

"That's another thing Misdreavus and I need to work on," Matthew explained as he recalled his errant Pokemon. "By the way, how are you doing? It's been ages since I last saw you . . ."

Ursula was too numbed by recent events to speak and it was left to Natasha to do the talking.

"It's - it's a long story," she said, trying to stall for time while she considered how to break the news of Bjorn's capture and the uncertainty of whether or not her was still alive.

Matthew looked at the two girls closely as if trying to decide what to do next. "Maybe you'd better tell me," he said at last. "It was the OCIB, wasn't it?"

Ursula nodded mutely. "H - how did you know?" she gasped, reaching down to stroke Espeon. The girl longed for reassurance - too much had happened to her lately and she desperately needed some stability in her life.

"I was there - at their Headquarters," Matthew explained, ignoring shocked gasps from Ursula and Natasha. "You see, the OCIB are based in my hometown and I was visiting my family since I'd completed my Pokemon journey and needed a break . . . Anyway, I saw them bring in your brother and a man. Ursula, Natasha, we've got to get them out of there!"

"But . . ." Ursula began to object, sure any rescue attempt would be futile and they would never see Bjorn alive again. But Matthew held up his hand for silence.

"Ursula, I overheard two agents talking - they said they would use your brother to trap you," he explained. "So that means - that means he's still alive!"

--------------------------------------

For the first time, hope flickered in Ursula's eyes, although one question still remained - what had Matthew been doing at the OCIB's Headquarters? It seemed to be too much of a coincidence that he was there at the precise moment Bjorn was brought in along with Richard Gregg, both taken because of their involvement in an illegal project.

"Oh, that," Matthew said when Ursula voiced her concerns. "I was working as a delivery boy in Redwood Town - my hometown - and I had to make a delivery to the OCIB's Headquarters. I just happened to be there when they brought them in. Bjorn was unconscious, but the man, your . . . father?" The last word was addressed directly to Natasha.

"Uncle," Natasha corrected.

"Anyway, the man managed to slip me this." Matthew handed Natasha something she instantly recognised as Gregg's current lab ID, a small piece of card with the same basic design as Suzanne's. There was a message scrawled in the unlaminated area on the back - "Find Ursula ASAP".

--------------------------------------

"This is serious," Natasha said after a while. "But Redwood Town's miles away - how'd you find us so soon?"

Matthew grinned at her. "Have you forgotten there are such things as Flying Pokemon?" he asked as he produced a Poke Ball from his pocket. "Charizard - go!"

In a flash of light, a Charizard burst out of the Poke Ball and stretched his powerful wings. Ursula was a little tentative at first; she had never seen such a large Pokemon up close before and she had heard that some Charizard weren't averse to using their flames as a gesture of contempt. To reassure her, Matthew reached up and gently scratched the Charizard's neck, a move which the Charizard responded to by lowering his head and nudging his trainer.

"Caught over in Charicific Valley," Matthew explained. "This one was a Charmeleon then - only evolved last month, and good job as it turns out . . ."

"I see," Natasha cut in. "You used your Charizard to find us since you'd be able to see better in the air than on the ground. But how did Uncle Richard know he could trust you?"

"I don't think he did really, but he didn't have much choice . . ."

---------------------------

There was little time to lose, so Matthew decided that he and the two girls ought to set off for Redwood town at once. He mounted Charizard's back close to the Pokemon's long neck where it would be easier to stay into control but allowed Ursula to sit in front of him since she was the smallest of the trio and needed to be able to see where they were going. Finally, Natasha climbed up behind Matthew and held onto his waist as Charizard prepared for take off.

"Charizard - Fly!" Matthew ordered. In response, Charizard flapped his wings, took a running jump and lifted off into the night sky.

---------------------------------

It was easily the most thrilling experience Ursula had ever had. Held in position by Matthew and clinging onto Charizard's neck, she marvelled at the sheer exileration of soaring through the air, flying over streets and houses. Having never ridden a Flying Pokemon before, she found the feeling of freedom it gave her too exciting to describe. Her only regret was that Bjorn couldn't be there to share the experience.

She felt the five Poke Balls she carried in her pockets. Two contained her own Vulpix and Espeon and the other three contained the Pokemon Bjorn had entrusted her with - Dewgong, Phanpy and Yanma. She thought about letting Yanma out so she could stretch her wings but decided against it; the Bug Pokemon was smaller than Charizard and might have difficulties keeping up.

----------------------------------

"There it is! There's the OCIB's Headquarters!" Matthew called as they flew over a large building surrounded by a barbed wire fence with checkpoints positioned at intervals. All in all, it looked as though the OCIB took security very seriously and all they could do was hope this didn't extend to the roof.

"Take us down, Charizard," Matthew ordered when he saw a part of the roof that looked like a good landing strip. But Charizard had barely touched down before a searchlight caught everyone in its powerful beam and an ear-splitting wailing sound tore through the air. Ursula winced and covered her ears to try and shut out the sound and Matthew and Natasha looked at each other aghast.

"Security," Matthew groaned. "We'd better move . . ."

But a quick glance at a nearby door told him it was already too late; several agents were pouring up onto the roof to deal with the security violation. Ursula summed the situation up in three words.

"We're in trouble."

Matthew grabbed hold of Ursula with one hand and drew Charizard back into his Poke Ball with the other. "Quickly!" he urged. "Run for it!"

--------------------------------

A deadly game of cat and mouse ensued, with OCIB agents chasing Matthew, Ursula and Natasha all over the rooftop. There was no way down - the only escape route led directly into the main building - and the three youngsters knew capture was only moments way. Even so, they were determined not to be taken without a fight.

Backed to the very edge of the roof and trapped between five armed agents and a sixty-foot drop, they decided their only hope was to use their Pokemon to fight their enemies. Moving as one, they unleashed Espeon, Vulpix, Persian and Matthew's Hitmonchan, producing a collective flash of light as the four Pokemon burst out of their balls simultaneously.

"Espeon - Psychic!" Ursula directed the purple catlike Pokemon. "Vulpix - power up with Sunny Day and use Flamethrower!" She watched as one agent fell, stunned by Espeon's Psychic Attack, followed moments later by the one Vulpix had targetted with her extra-strong Flamethrower.

"Hitmonchan - Mega Punch!" ordered Matthew, watching as Hitmonchan floored a third agent with a powerful punch.

"Persian - Double Team!" Natasha called, hoping desperately that this move would distract the agents long enough for them to plan an escape route. But, no matter how hard, the Pokemon fought, the odds were stacked against them. Faced with an organisation the size of the OCIB, there was only so much punishment they could take . . .

---------------------------------

Seeing Espeon on the verge of collapse, Ursula rushed to shield her Pokemon, oblivious to the two agents who had already singled her out and had their guns trained on her . . .

"Oh no you don't!" Matthew said the second he realised Ursula and Espeon were in trouble. "Misdreavus - Psywave!" he added as he released his Ghost Pokemon.

Misdreavus focussed all her power on sending a blast of Psychic energy towards the agents. It caught them completely off guard and they fell, senseless, to the ground. Dazed, Ursula watched dumbstruck as Matthew and Natasha quickly stripped them of their uniforms and donned them themselves.

"Quick!" Natasha urged as she helped Ursula to her feet. "If this is going to work, we need you to pretend to be captured."


	12. Chapter Eleven

**

Chapter Eleven

**

"I wish there was some way to put that thing out of comission," Bjorn cursed as the ever-present camera continued filming the OCIB's prisoners.

He knew there wasn't much time left; sooner or later, regardless of whether he said anything or not, Ursula would be found. Not for the first time, two questions kept echoing in his mind - "who?" and "why?" What could have possessed someone to betray two twelve-year-old children to an organisation which regarded them as little more than lab specimens, and illegal ones at that?

His thoughts were interupted by the door being opened, followed by three people being hurled roughly into the Holding Cell. He immediately recognised the two females as Ursula and Natasha, but the male's identity eluded him for a moment.

It was the youth who spoke first. "Bjorn?" he asked, shocked by the younger boy's dishevelled appearence. "Bjorn Olsson?"

On hearing his name, Bjorn recalled a meeting in the backstreets of Violet City and how desperation had forced him and Ursula to put their trust in a stranger. "Matthew, I - I can't believe it," was all he could say. "What are you guys doing here?"

"They caught us," Ursula replied grimly, wishing fervently that everything that had happened lately was just a bad dream.

"Who caught you Ursula?" This question was from Richard Gregg, who was seated on the bed, his mind fighting the answer he and Bjorn both knew was coming.

"The OCIB," explained Matthew. "Natasha and I stole a couple of uniforms, hoping we'd be able to use Ursula to trick our way in - only, we were spotted . . . Sorry," he added, realising he hadn't introduced himself. "I'm Matthew Bates . . ."

"There was a man who asked for a password," Natasha went on, picking up to thread of Matthew's story. "And, when we couldn't give it, he - he sounded an alarm and these agents came and caught us all . . ." At this point, she broke down in tears and sought efuge in her uncle's arms.

"Sorry," she said when she could speak coherently again. "But the . . . way they treated Ursula! One of them - they called him Agent Hope - kept calling her "hybrid" all the time, like she wasn't even human . . ."

-------------------------------------------

They had been in trouble before, but never to this extent. Imprisoned inside a fortress, they knew only too well that they were living on borrowed time. Gregg sat studying the two Chimera Children, marvelling at how, not yet thirteen years old, they had managed to endure so much and still retain an air of childlike optimism. But even that seemed to be wearing thin - right now, Ursula sat hunched up on the floor and Bjorn seemed unusually preoccupied with the security camera.

Suddenly, he looked away from the camera and smiled furtively. "I think I know how to shut that thing off," he explained. "Natasha, do you still have my Pokemon?"

Natasha nodded, grateful that she, Matthew and Ursula had not been frisked for Pokemon on being captured. Clearly, the OCIB were so anxious to get all this over with that they had become lax about that particular aspect of security.

"Good," Bjorn said. "Just . . . help me find Yanma's Poke Ball and I'll do the rest." He and Natasha turned their backs on the camera and rummaged through the Poke Balls the latter had in her pocket. It did not take long to find Yanma, although that was hardly surprising since every Poke Ball that held a Pokemon gave off barely detectable but totally unique vibrations, a system somewhat similar to fingerprinting.

Bjorn held the Poke Ball above his shoulder and prepared to cast it down. "You may want to cover your ears," he warned the others as he pressed the button to activate the Ball. "Yanma - I choose you!"

Seconds later, the red dragonfly-like Pokemon emerged, unsure what was going on but ready to receive her trainer's instructions. "Listen, Yanma," Bjorn told her, "there's a security camera in this room and I need you to wreck it for us. Can you use Supersonic to knock it out?"

Yanma nodded and flew up into the ceiling, where she promptly flapped her wings so rapidly that they became little more than a blur and emitted a deafening high-pitched wail. At once, Ursula knew why Bjorn had warned everyone to cover their ears - it was bad enough when Supersonic was used out in the open, but in a confined space like this the noise was almost unbearable. Ursula kept her hands clenched tightly against her head, wishing the Supersonic Attack would hurry up and do its job . . .

-------------------------------------------------

Unknown to Bjorn and the other prisoners, Agents Steed and Hope were watching what was happening on tv monitors in the control room. Or at least that was what they were doing when Yanma's Supersonic wasn't causing the camera in the Holding Cell to malfunction . . .

"Damn!" Hope cursed. "What's wrong with that thing?!"

Steed looked at the monitor for the Holding Cell - seconds before it blinked rapidly and went blank. "Camera's down," he said dispassionately. "And only a Supersonic Attack could cause such a malfunction . . ."

"Could it have been one of . . . those kids?"

"What kind of OCIB agent are you?" Steed snorted impatiently. "They're Ursaring hybrids - and the Pokemon Attacks Database contains no reference that says an Ursaring can use Supersonic. Some other Pokemon was behind that . . ."

"Well, anyway - I'm gonna go investigate," Hope went on. "It'll give me chance to say what I've got to say for one thing."

"And what are those children to you?" Steed demanded hotly, unable to figure out why the young agent should be so concerned about two more products of an illegal experiment. "They're just hybrid trash, after all - why not just put a couple of bullets through their brains and have done with it?!"

"Because . . ." Hope began. But he stopped himself before he could betray the close connection he had with Bjorn and Ursula.

--------------------------------------------

"Good work, Yanma," Bjorn said once Gregg was satisfied the camera was out of action and there was no danger of the escape being caught on film. "Return!"

"Now - to get that door open," he added as Natasha nodded towards Matthew. Since neither she nor the Chimera Children possessed a Pokemon capable of breaking down a door, they would need help from his Pokemon if they wanted to get out of here. However, Matthew shook his head and put his Hitmonchan's Poke Ball back in his pocket.

"I've got a better idea," he said. "Bjorn, Ursula - you've got Ursaring DNA so you should be able to use any Attack a real Ursaring can. One of you has to use Strength on that door!"

Gregg sighed. "I've thought about that," he said at length. "But Bjorn took quite a beating from the OCIB so I don't think he's up to using his powers right now. And Ursula . . . well, Ursula's a girl . . ."

Hearing this, Ursula glowered at the man who had created both Chimera Children, incensed that he would say anything so sexist. "So what?" she demanded hotly as, to prove she was just as capable as any boy, she yanked on the door handle with all her might, exerting force against force.

--------------------------------------

It seemed to take forever - and every second made Ursula increasingly anxious that someone would come in and catch them - but, finally, the door came off its hinges and she could push it aside. Moving cautiously, she made sure the coast was clear before furtively beckoning to the others.

"Quick!" she urged in a nervous whisper. "Before someone comes . . ."

They elected to try and make their way out onto the roof, where they would steal one of the OCIB's helicopters and use it to fly to safety. Gregg had, during the past few weeks, developed a close bond with Bjorn and Ursula - rather like he might have done with his own children had he had any - and, as with any father, his instincts were to protect them. But neither Johto nor neighbouring Kanto could be safe havens for the Olsson children - the OCIB had jurisdiction over both lands and that meant their only chance was to get as far away as possible . . .

"But where would we go?" Bjorn asked as they tried to evade the agents on duty. He thought of Greenview, the place where he and Ursula had spent their early years growing up under Mrs Mather's no-nonsense care, and wondered if he would ever see his old friends again. Even enemies like Mr Braithwaite and Derek Holloway would have been a welcome sight.

"There's a place I know far across the Southern Sea," Gregg explained. "Amethyst Island - the OCIB have no jurisdiction there, so you and Ursula should be safe from attack. And I think you'd better join us, Natasha and Matthew, now that you've been caught abetting hybrids . . ."

Natasha nodded - now that she had resigned as Goldenrod City's Gym Leader, there was no reason for her to stay in Johto if her uncle left. But Matthew wasn't entirely sure since he had family in the nearby town, who might be concerned if he disappeared suddenly and left no forwarding address.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Gregg replied when Matthew voiced his concerns. "Hopefully, it won't be for long anyway . . ."

----------------------------------------------

He never had chance to finish his sentence - just as the little group of fugitives rounded the corner, several agents pounced on them. One agent caught hold of Bjorn before he had chance to resist and jabbed him hard in the neck, cutting off his circulation and causing him to pass out on the spot. Ursula watched horrified, unable to believe she was going to lose her brother again so soon after they were reunited.

"Oh no you don't!" she muttered angrily, grabbing Espeon's Poke Ball. "Espeon - I choose you! Use Confusion!"

"Esp!" Espeon hissed, arching her back as she launched into the powerful Psychic Attack. It had the effect of instantly disorientating the OCIB agent so that he promptly launched into a slurred medley of songs. Then, he staggered against the wall and slumped down muttering to himself. Ursula smiled in triumph as she stole the keys hanging on his belt and, spotting a nearby room, nodded towards Gregg.

Gregg calmly thrust the agent into the room and locked the door - the keys were labelled so it was easy to find the right one. Having done that, he turned back to the others.

"Good work, Ursula!" he said approvingly, resting his hand on the girl's shoulder. "But there's still plenty more where he came from . . ."

"Like me for instance?"

--------------------------------------------

Everyone whirled round at the sound of Hope's voice; the young agent had sneaked up on them while they were distracted and spotted Bjorn lying unconscious on the floor. The sight of the fallen Chimera had been too tempting to resist and Hope now stood holding his limp body against his chest and smirking to himself at the plan beginning to form in his mind.

"You . . ." Gregg searched in vain for an epithet strong enough to describe Bjorn's captor. "What have you done to that boy?!"

"Oh, he's safe - for now! But I need Ursula as well . . . so hand her over!"

"Never!" Gregg retorted. "I will never give these children to . . . to murderers like you!"

"Murderers, are we?" Hope asked with a mock-bemused look on his face. "Haven't you ever thought about what you did to my mother?"

"Your . . . mother?" echoed Ursula.

"Yes, little sister! MY name is Joseph Hope - and you two hybrids helped kill OUR mother!"


	13. Chapter Twelve

**

Chapter Twelve

**

Joseph Hope gloated at the dumbstruck group of escapees, smug in the knowledge that the day was his and the vengeance he had sworn long ago would soon come to pass. Too long had the Chimera Children evaded captured, too long had those abominations walked the Earth - but not any more. Soon, Richard Gregg and his Chimera Project would be consigned to oblivion, a deserved fate for the wrong they had done to Hope's mother.

"Imagine it," he said as if speaking to himself. "A thirteen-year-old boy comes in from training his Pokemon to find his mother has taken an overdose . . ."

"I don't know what you're talking about, but you'd better let my brother go now!" Ursula shot back, her muscles tensing with anger. She did not know how much more she could take, how much longer she could stand living in constant fear for her life. All their lives, she and Bjorn had looked out for each other and, right now, her brother needed her more than ever.

"Haven't you already guessed?" Hope asked with a sly smile. "Well, little girl . . . or should I say "little hybrid"? . . . you and I have the same mother. Or at least we did until grief at having her infant twins stolen away drove her to suicide! You," he added, addressing Gregg, "you and your precious Chimera project killed my mother! Tell me, what happened to your other hybrids?"

Gregg blanched, recalling the long hours spent in the laboratory trying to create a viable human/Pokemon hybrid and the deep disappointment he felt each time an attempt failed. "I - I lost them all, except for Bjorn and Ursula," he admitted at last. "There were some Meganium hybrids that survived birth, but they all died suddenly one night - five years after the project began . . ."

"And Suzanne Hope - my mother - was buried that day!" added Hope, his voice becoming anguished as he recalled standing by his mother's grave and vowing to shut down the Chimera project, which he had learned of via Suzanne, if it was the last thing he did. His first move had been to pump herbicides into the rooms where the six hybrid Bayleef that resulted from that particular experiment were kept. As Grass Type Pokemon, they were extremely vulnerable to such chemicals and all of them were dead within an hour.

-----------------------------------------------------

Although Gregg had suspected sabotage at the time, he had never been able to prove it and there was no way he could catch the culprit without exposing his work. Now, however, he had just heard what amounted to a confession.

"Are you saying . . . you're the one who informed on the children?!" he demanded. "On your own flesh and blood?!"

"They're no siblings of mine!" Hope shot back as he thrust Bjorn - who was still only semi-conscious - against the wall with one hand and pulled a syringe out from under his OCIB uniform with the other. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm an only child!"

Then, before anyone could stop him, he pulled the cap off the needle and rammed it straight into Bjorn's upper arm . . .

"No!" Ursula yelled as her brother fell to the floor and lay motionless. Rage at everything she and Bjorn had suffered lately, forced into the lives of fugitives because they just happened to be illegal hybrids, and now this built up inside her. Finally, all her pent up emotions exploded in the form of a Hyperbeam, a powrful blast of light which struck Hope full in the chest, just as he prepared to express his feelings for Bjorn with a mouthful of saliva.

--------------------------------------------

Stunned, Hope stumbled against the wall and, as his fingers chanced to touch the button that activated the security alarm, he grinned and pressed it sharply so that a loud klaxon started blaring and a light bulb flashed on and off. "I've injected that . . . brat with poison," he informed the shocked prisoners flatly. "I'd give him . . . oh, a few hours. And, as for the rest of you . . ."

It was too much for Natasha - as Ursula tried to get her breath back after using Hyperbeam, the former rounded on the OCIB agent, berating him for all the hurt he and his organisation had caused.

"You're just . . . sick!" she yelled, her blue eyes blazing angrily. "Is avenging your mother's death really worth the life of a twelve-year-old boy? And what will killing these children - your brother and sister - achieve? Will it bring your mother back?"

Natasha would probably have said a lot more had Matthew not interupted her from where he and the others knelt beside Bjorn. "Natasha," he whispered urgently, "we've got to get out of here!"

"I know that - but how?!" Natasha had never felt so helpless in her life; Bjorn's grip on life grew more tenuous the longer they lingered, but there was no way they could escape while Hope had them cornered. In the pocket of the stolen OCIB uniform she wore, she could feel something that felt suspiciously like a pistol . . . she hated the idea of killing a fellow human being, but there seemed to be no other choice.

------------------------------------------

Her hands trembling, she pulled the gun out and pointed it at Hope who responded by smiling nonchallently, convinced there was no way she would pull the trigger. Seconds later, two bullets rammed brutally into his chest, knocking him to the floor and letting him know without a doubt that she meant business.

Natasha looked at Hope, at the spreading bloodstain on his shirt and the shocked look on his face, with her jaw set grimly. "Your fellow agents forgot to confiscate this," she informed him.

His life ebbing away, Hope made one last effort to taunt the Chimera Children and their allies. " You haven't . . . won yet!" he gasped, forcing the words out. "My fellow . . . agents . . . will . . . will hunt you down . . . and . . . and . . ."

He never finished his sentence - as he closed his eyes for the last time, Natasha turned to the others and nodded her head. "He's dead," was all she told them.

Gregg looked his niece full in the face and thought about what she had done. He had hoped this could be resolved without anyone being killed, but there had been no other choice when it came down to it - Hope had shown he was more than willing to kill his own siblings.

"Well . . ." he said, hesitating as he tried to think of the most appropriate word. "You did the only thing possible in the circumstances . . . Now, we'd better get Bjorn and Ursula out of here."

----------------------------------------------------

Wasting no time, he scooped Bjorn up in his arms and headed towards the roof with Matthew, Ursula and Natasha following in his wake. None of them had any idea what they were going to do next, just a vague plan that involved stealing a helicopter and using it in a bid to outrun the organisation that had caused the Chimera Children so much trouble. But they all wanted the same thing - for both children to survive.

"If we get out of here, I'll make it my business to expose the OCIB's methods," Gregg vowed to himself as they made it out onto the roof - fortunately, no agents had stopped them as they fled down the corridors. "Until then, Ursula will be safer away from Johto and so will Bjorn . . ." He paused and looked at the ashen-faced Chimera, whose breathing felt unnaturally shallow and who showed no signs of responding to what was happening. "If he survives," Gregg added mentally.

He dismissed the possibility that it might already be too late and turned to the others. "And now to find that helicopter," he told them. "Think - did any of you see something that looked like a helipad when you arrived?"

Ursula nodded. "I - I think I saw a whole row of helicopters back there," she said, pointing towards the far end of the roof. "But I'm not absolutely sure - it was dark and I was kind of busy clobbering OCIB agents."

Nonetheless, they had no choice so they headed in the direction Ursula indicated to find six helicopters - all painted in the OCIB's colours, black with a red tail - parked in a row. The only difficulty was deciding which one to take; none of them had much experience flying helicopters and it was only necessity that had driven them to this desperate plan.

"Eeny meeny miney mo, catch a Raichu by the toe . . ." Matthew jokingly launched into the old counting rhyme as he pointed to each helicopter in time to the words. Natasha looked at him in disbelief; surely he wasn't going to start playing games now of all times!

"We've no time for that!" she called to him. "Let's just grab one and get out of here!"

--------------------------------------------

Minutes later, just as the helicopter that would, hopefully, carry them to safety lifted off, Agents Steed and Johnson came hurrying onto the roof.

"I'm telling you - we've searched all over the building and they're nowhere to be found!" Johnson was saying.

Steed growled - Bjorn and Ursula Olsson had made a fool of him and the OCIB once too often and he would be glad to be rid of them one way or another. For the last few months, they had been a constant thorn in his side; after their disappearence from Greenview, some Violet City agents had brought Mrs Mather in for questioning, only to find that she had no knowledge of their current whereabouts. The resulting hybrid-hunt had taken up far too much manpower already . . .

"Agent Hope's been shot!" he responded. "And I've got a pretty good idea who did it . . ."

The whirring of a helicopter's rotor blades cut him short and he glanced up to see an OCIB helicopter hovering just overhead. Since there were no helicopters currently listed as being "in use", this could mean only one thing . . . Steed pulled out his mobile phone and selected one of the autodial numbers.

"Vehicle Pool, this is Steed. Johnson and I are taking one of the helicopters and going after those hybrids.

-----------------------------------------

As the helicopter carrying the Chimera Children and their friends flew over the Southern Sea, Natasha spotted something on the radar.

"Uh-oh!" she said as the computer ran a check and revealed that the other aircraft was also an OCIB helicopter. "We've got company!"

Gregg glanced at the screen before turning his attention to Bjorn and Ursula at the rear of the helicopter. From the cursory examination he had managed to give Bjorn, he knew Hope had injected him with a powerful toxin, possibly synthetic, although there was no way to be sure. But what he was sure of was that desperate situations called for desperate solutions . . .

"Quick!" he urged Matthew who was seated beside him. "Jettison the fuel! Natasha, get the door open! And don't argue, either of you!"

--------------------------------------------

Recognising the urgent tone in his voice, Natasha knew this was the only way they could avoid capture and, struggling to control her trembling fingers, fumbled the helicopter's door open. Then, she stepped forward and, taking a deep breath and trying to avoid the still spinning rotor blades, dived into the sea. "OK!" she called as she trod water. "Ursula, you next - I'll catch you!"

Before long, Matthew and Ursula had joined Natasha in the water and the three of them, a trio of young people at the mercy of fate, looked each other full in the face. Last of all - and with the helicopter now only moments from crashing - Gregg picked Bjorn up and, reminding himself that he had to keep the boy's head above water whatever happened, plunged down to join the others.

"What do we do now?" asked Ursula. "We can't stay afloat forever."

But Matthew had the solution. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a Poke Ball and pressed the button to activate it.

"Mantine, get us out of here!" he ordered as the large Water/Flying Pokemon emerged in a flash of light.

"Dewgong, you too," Natasha added as she released Bjorn's Water/Ice Type. Bjorn had trained Dewgong well; the fact he was willing to obey commands from Ursula and Natasha as well as Bjorn himself testified to this fact.

As it turned out, Matthew and Natasha acted none too soon. Just as Mantine and Dewgong - the former towing Matthew, Ursula and Natasha while the latter took care of Gregg and Bjorn - swam out to sea, the helicopter crashed into the water. There was a deafening explosion - there being just enough fuel left to ignite - and debris rained down . . .

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When Steed and Johnson arrived on the scene some time later, all they found was the floating wreckage of the helicopter. Not a single trace remained of the Chimera Children or their companions - Steed, assuming they would have tried to cling to the wreckage, brought the helicopter he and Johnson were in closer to the crashsite. There was no evidence of any survivors . . .

"They've beaten us," he said flatly.

"Yes," agreed Johnson. "Let's get back to Headquarters so we can report this."


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**

Chapter Thirteen

**

Ursula's watch had stopped, most likely due to the soaking it had received and she had no way of knowing what time it was or how long they had been floating aimlessly.

She glanced over to Bjorn, who was draped across Dewgong's back his hand resting on the Pokemon's horn, and was shocked by how ashen, how deathly pale his face was. "Please," she prayed, gaxing into the sky. "Please let him be alive . . ."

Gregg was also hoping against hope that Bjorn would remain alive until help arrived or Dewgong and Mantine managed to get everyone to land. Brushing his finger against the boy's cheek he whispered instructions not to give up the struggle, to keep fighting no matter how overwhelming the odds currently seemed.

"Listen, Bjorn," he said in a firm voice. "You haven't come this far to fall at the last hurdle - so don't even think about dying on me. Live, my boy - live!"

Matthew and Natasha could only watch helplessly as their friend clung to life. Moments after the desperate plunge into the sea, Matthew had found a dose of Antidote in his pockets and suggested they try to use it on Bjorn. But Gregg had dismissed the idea since Bjorn was too far gone for it to really be effective - besides which, he wasn't sure if Pokemon Potions would work on hybrids.

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The sound of a motorboat made everyone look round as a young woman, probably no more than twenty years old, steered the craft in closer. Dressed in jeans and a pink crop-top, she looked at the four figures in the water and a fifth (unconscious) one draped across a Dewgong's back . . .

"Do you need help?" she called to them.

"Well, we could use a hand now you mention it," Gregg replied. "There's a young boy here who's in urgent need of medical attention!"

"Hang on - I'll get you on board!"

As the young woman steered her motorboat towards the nearest island - which just happened to be Amethyst Island - she asked to hear the story of how five people came to be in the middle of the ocean.

"It's a long story . . ." Gregg began. Nonetheless, he, Ursula, Natasha and Matthew began to give a detailed account of the last few months. No details were left out and, as Natasha finished speaking, the young woman nodded her approval.

"if what you say is true and Bjorn and Ursula are Ursaring hybrids, it's as well you got them away from Johto," she said, clearly sickened by the cruelty both children had suffered recently. "By the way," she added, as she realised she hadn't introduced herself, "my name's Lenore and I'm a Water Pokemon trainer . . ."

She had three Poke Balls attached to her waistband and, at Matthew's request, she handed Natasha the tiller and opened them to reveal her team of Pokemon. Lenore had a Quagsire, a Wartortle and an Octillery, a line-up which impressed Ursula no end.

"Your Pokemon look very strong," she commented.

"They should be," Lenore replied. "I've been training for the last eight or nine years and . . ." She broked off as an island loomed on the horizon.

"Amethyst Island," she said proudly.

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As its names suggests, Amethyst Island was in many ways a jewel in the Southern Sea. Buildings lined the sea-front - hotels with names like Starmie Princess and Corsola Bay jostled for trade among a myriad of souvenier shops - and a colony of tame Lapras frolicked and played in the shallows to the evident delight of a crowd of onlookers standing on a jetty.

However, there was no time to enjoy the sites as Bjorn needed help desperately; without medical attention within moments, he would soon be beyond saving.

"Is there a hospital anywhere near here?" Natasha asked as she and the others hurried down the Main Street. Every second was precious and any that were lost meant Bjorn's grip on life slipped further away - but it wasn't completely hopeless, not while he still showed signs that he was still alive. And those signs, Gregg was all too aware, were steadily declining . . .

"There's one at the top of Summersea Road, " Lenore said, pointing slightly inland from the coast. "We should get there in five to ten minutes if we hurry . . ."

Ursula glanced at her unconscious brother, praying desperately that all would be well in the end. "Let's just hope he can hang on," she murmured.

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Before long, Bjorn was in intensive care undergoing treatment with antitoxins in a bid to counter the poison Hope had injected into him. As Gregg suspected, the poison was a synthetic substance designed to put its victim into a coma and cause a slow decline in his or her metabolism, ultimately leading to death. Fortunately, it could easily be countered by feeding antitoxins via an intravenous line, but the treatment had to be given wthin six hours of exposure to really be effective.

"We've managed to get him stabilised," a doctor told Gregg as he sat in the viewing chamber with Matthew, Lenore and Natasha - Ursula was in the room with Bjorn, clasping his hand in hers. "It's a good thing you got him here when you did - another couple of hours and . . . Are you his father?"

"No," Gregg replied, shaking his head. Then, remembering he no longer had to be secretive about it in a place beyond the OCIB's jurisdiction, he began to tell the whole story. "Bjorn and Ursula are nor like other children. Nearly fourteen years ago, I started a project to create human/Pokemon hybrids - and those kids are the results of my work . . ."

"Hmm," the doctor said as he digected this news. "Pokemon hybrids, eh? That probably explains the . . . things we found during our scan."

"What sort of things?" asked Lenore.

"To start with, there was a gland just here . . ." The doctor pointed to the nape of his neck. " . . . that simply doesn't occur in humans. My guess, based on what you've told me, is that it's a Evo-gland . . ."

Gregg listened intently; he had planned to give Bjorn and Ursula a full physical examination, but their run in with the OCIB had put paid to that idea. Even so, this revelation - that Bjorn had the gland which regulated a Pokemon's evolution - made him ponder a fresh question. Just how human were the Chimera Children?

"No!" he told himself firmly. "If I start questioning their humanity, I'll be taking the same path the OCIB took. These are not freaks or monstrosities - they're children."

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In Bjorn's room, Ursula released Vulpix from her Poke Ball and placed her on her brother's chest. Then, she took hold of his hand and rested it on Vulpix's silky fur.

"Bjorn," she whispered. "Bjorn, it's Ursula. I don't know if you can hear me, but we managed to get away. We're on Amethyst Island, that place Richard told us about . . ."

She stopped with a start as she noticed Bjorn's eyelids start to flicker. The effects of the antitoxins were finally beginning to kick in, neutralising the substance Hope had injected him with and slowly bringing him back from the brink. He was alive; like a creature waking from hibernation, he was ready to begin life anew . . .

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Bjorn's mind was a jumble of memories. The day he and Ursula first learned what they were . . . running away from Greenview . . . hiding out in Goldenrod Gym . . . meeting Gregg for the first time - all these and more crowded into his head. But there was one thing he couldn't make sense of - a young man claimed to be his brother when Ursula was his only sibling.

Ursula . . . From somewhere that had initially sounded far away but was now getting closer, he could hear Ursula's voice. He opened his eyes and, as his initially cloudy vision cleared, he saw her sitting beside him. Her clothes were unfamiliar - she was wearing navy blue trousers and a white t-shirt with a Butterfree motif, garments given to her to replace her own wet clothes - but there was no mistaking the girl he had spent nearly thirteen years near.

"Sula?" he whispered.

"Oh, Bjorn" Ursula cried, tears of happiness overflowing from her eyes. It had been so long since Bjorn called her Sula and she had feared she would never hear that name again.

"Sula," Bjorn repeated, "how did I get here? The last thing I remember is being at the OCIB's Headquarters . . ."

"You were unconscious," Gregg explained as he entered the room with Natasha, Lenore and Matthew. "That OCIB agent - Joseph Hope - he was the one who informed on you and Ursula. Because he blamed you for his mother's death and wanted to destroy you . . ."

"Joseph Hope?" Bjorn pondered to himself. "Was he Suzanne Hope's son?"

Natasha nodded. "He told us everything before I shot him." Then, seeing the shocked look on Bjorn's face, she carrying on speaking. "I - I had no choice, Bjorn," she said desperately. "It was us or him - and you would be dead by now if we hadn't gotten you away . . ."

"Gotten me away? Are we still in Johto?"

Gregg shook his head. "There was nowhere there or in Kanto that the OCIB would leave you alone," he explained. "So we got you away by helicopter - we're on Amethyst Island now."

"And, just to make sure, Uncle Richard faked our deaths," added Natasha.

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A month passed, during which Bjorn slowly recovered from the effects of the poison - although doctors warned it could take far longer before they knew for sure that he would not suffer a relapse. It was also during this time that they turned thirteen, an occasion mark by a small tea party in Bjorn's room - and by the news they had waited all their lives to hear.

Richard Gregg was going to make an application to legally adopt them. Having created them in the first place and, years later, been the one who ensured their survival, he felt the least he could do was give them the home life they had lacked for so long. As a bachelor with no adult female role model to offer them, he knew it wouldn't be easy, but he was determined to try no matter what.

"The authorities here haven't dealt with a case like this before," he explained. "So it'll set a few legal precedents. But Bjorn and Ursula having no living relations except each other - I looked up Suzanne Hope's family records online and it said "parents deceased, no siblings" . . . Anyway, the hearing's in November and then we'll know one way or the other."

Ursula sat stroking her Espeon, so pre-occupied that she didn't notice Lenore approach her.

"Hey!" Lenore said, tapping Ursula on the shoulder. "I thought it was your birthday!"

"Sorry - I was just thinking about Joseph - if things had been different, he might have accepted Bjorn and I instead on trying to kill us . . ."

"No-one truly knows why our lives take the paths they do," Lenore explained. "Joseph's path took him in a direction which drove him to revenge; your path - and Bjorn's as well - just happened to cross his . . ."

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November 2072 saw Richard Gregg and the Chimera Children leaving Amethyst Island's family court. It had been a long session, fuelled by the uniqueness of the case before them, but the three judges had finally come to what they felt to be the right decision. Gregg paused to read the papers he had been given to finalise the adoption process:

"In light of the evidence presented, the court feels it is in the best interests of Bjorn and Ursula Olsson (minors) t be placed in the custody of their guardian, Richard Arthur Gregg . . ."

He turned to the children standing nearby and smiled broadly. "Well, kids," he said, beckoning to them. "Let's go home and start the rest of our lives."

"OK . . . Dad," Ursula replied, uttering a word most children take for granted but which she had never been able to use before.

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As he drove his new son and daughter to his apartment, Gregg thought of the events leading up to this moment. A few months ago, they had been prisoners of the OCIB, but they were now free - as far as the OCIB were concerned, they were dead - and about to start a new life. He knew the risks of what could happen if the OCIB found out they were alive, but he was prepared for it this time and would fight to protect them no matter what. All that remained was to persuade the governments of Kanto and Johto to grant hybrids full legal rights . . .

"It won't be easy," he mused. "But we can do it - all of us. We must make sure what happened to these children can't happen to anyone else."


End file.
